Attack on Ranma
by Screaming Dean
Summary: This is a Ryoga and Eren Yeager fusion, merging the two of them into one. The time is the distant past for both Asia and Europe taking place in the year 846 after the Colossal Titan kicked a huge hole into Wall Maria. Ranma and her pet rabbit, Ryoga, arrive at Jusenkyo for the end of her training trip where the titans have finally arrived there. Eren/RyogaxRanmaxJohnny ArminxRanko
1. Giants at Jusenkyo

Attack on Ranma

Chapter One

"_THOUGHTS"_

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This fanfic is crossed over with the popular, new anime, Attack on Titan. In addition to that, the historic time period will be taking place somewhere in the distant past like in feudal times for Japan and in the Post Middle Ages for Europe. Since this is being crossed over with Attack on Titan, this fanfic takes place in around the year 846, a year after the Colossal Titan kicked that huge hole into Wall Maria, the outer most wall. If you're an Attack on Titan reader and not one of my usual readers give me a review and let me know how you feel about my writing.

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It was a cool, humid day as a group of three people arrived at a beautifully spacious valley composed of countless ten by eight foot springs on which the bright sun shone reflecting off the surface of the water. The grass and vegetation on the grounds was a sight to behold as a soft wind brought the aroma of fruit filled trees throughout the area. In addition to all this, tall mountains surrounded the liquid pools with there being only one paved road to and from a place called Jusenkyo.

"Are you sure about this, Gramps?" Ranma Saotome asked as she, her cousin, and her grandfather walked past several pools of waters that each had a smooth twenty-five foot stalk of yellow colored bamboo pole sticking up from them.

Ranma was born a beautiful baby girl, but she had become a strikingly beautiful, buxom yet athletic, young woman with shoulder length, dark red hair and a moderately muscular physique from years of grueling martial arts training. Her fair, apple blossom skin gave off a fragrant aroma as her twinkling blue eyes regarded the environment around her.

"Quite, Ranma! I'm thinking," Happosai barked as a fruity aroma filled breeze passed through them.

Happosai was short, shorter than the other two travelers, being a five foot tall, balding old man with grey hair on the sides and the back of his head. His squat physique moved with a grace that belied his advanced years. Thus he was in phenomenal condition and very skilled in the martial arts and hand to hand combat. His control over his scentless rock hard body and ki was such that his metabolism allowed him to eat a whole lot more than a man his size would normally be capable. He had also acquired the ability to create a subspace pocket on his person that allowed him to hide the stolen goods he had pilfered from here and there as he was also a master thief.

"Yeah, Ranma, prissy girls like you should be seen and not heard," Ryu commented, giving his cousin a sideward glance. **(1)**

Ryu Kumon was a tall, strapping young man with short brown hair that was curly over his forehead and a handsome face with a moderately muscular, wiry physique.

Despite having been hushed so abruptly, Ranma kept on talking. "Grandpa, this is important. If I didn't know better I'd think we were being tailed by large creatures of some kind. Some people have even told me about man eating giants devouring people. There's something going on-"

Whenever the group had left a town during their training trip, earth shaking thumps resonated through the ground. There was even a time when one of the towns at which they had arrived had smashed in houses and wrecked bridges, looking as if a tsunami had gone through it.

"Shut up, you impetuous girl! This is the last leg of our journey. After this we'll return to Japan," the old man ordered.

"Assuming we don't get eaten."

As if to emphasize her point, a loud, dull roar, accompanied with a crunching sound and a scream resounded from over a dozen miles away. Thus the three stood there motionless as the sounds of crunching and grinding grew faint then stopped all together.

"What was that?"

"Silence, Ranma. When we get back to Japan, you will learn your proper place," Happosai Kumon demanded in an authoritative tone that brooked no further discussion.

Happosai was very pleased with himself at having dunked his both of his granddaughters twice in one of the pools in the area. This had made Ranma and her younger sister much better looking than they would have been otherwise, making each of them more of an ideal woman on a universal level, allowing either of them to fit in within most places in the world.

In addition to all that, the spring had increased Ranma's height, strength, and feminine attributes along with her dexterity and quickness, enabling her to block, punch, and kick with more speed and force. Her hard bodied constitution and healing factor also allowed her to train harder and recover completely from injuries and scarring.

"_When we get back to Japan, I'll be set for life when I have Ranma marry the richest feudal lord I can find. He'll have to be rich and well fed since Ranma's so tall. Come to think of it, who says I can't have Ranma marry the Shogun or even the Emperor? Heh, heh, heh," _Happosai calculated to himself. Then another thought occurred to him.

"_Oh, yes. Let's not forget, Ranma's sister, the one I left with Soun. He's always been a useful idiot, but I hope she'll be OK with him. I dumped her in Jusenkyo water the same way I did Ranma, so she too is beautiful. Even if she's not as tall as Ranma, she's almost as beautiful. I'll be able net a small fortune when I marry her off as well. Heh, heh."_

In order to fit in with their surroundings Ranma and Ryu each wore a red Chinese shirt and green pants made of soft silk that gently caressed their bodies. In addition to that, each of them had his hair done up in a pigtail while Happosai wore a light brown Chinese shirt and pants along with a Chinese cap that topped his balding head.

"Put the provisions down and follow me!" Happosai ordered as he strode past the countless springs in surrounding them.

After laying their human sized backpacks on the ground near the springs both Ranma and Ryu breathed in the misty air deeply, tensing their muscles in anticipation of one more training session.

FLASHBACK

When Ranma was ten years old, Happosai had lowered her into a thirty foot deep abyss filled with the stench of small rabid wolverines with several pieces of raw meat tied to her body. Her mind was somewhat fuddled after having been carefully struck in the head by her grandfather who was looking down on what was going on with Ryu right beside him.

To the surprise of her grandfather and cousin, Ranma wriggled out of her bonds as the wolverines attacked her.

"_That wasn't supposed to happen. Where did Ranma learn how to escape out of ropes and bindings? It must have been that rail thin, old woman who was being so kind to her. I thought she was teaching Ranma how to cook, but it's obvious she taught her more than that."_

As the feral wolverines attacked, Ranma responded, attacking with fast paced punches and kicks against the pouncing creatures. However, despite her valiant, skilled efforts, the canines began to overwhelm her, their teeth biting through her flesh and dragging the girl to the ground. Then Ranma was on the ground crying out in pain.

"Grandpa, get me out of here!"

"Keep fighting, you worthless girl. After everything I've invested in you the least thing you can do for me is learn the Wolverine Fist!" Happosai called out from above her.

"They're biting and clawing at me!" a bloodied Ranma sobbed.

"Then fight back! What have you been learning all this time? Are you a waste of space?"

Upon taking a deep breath, Ranma regrouped and snap kicked the closest wolverine into its frothing mouth, knocking it into some of the others. Despite all her valiant efforts, the numbers began to bear down on her to the point that they brought her to the ground.

"Aaaah!" the little girl screamed, rising up and breaking herself free of the wolverines that had held her down.

"That's much better. Now go berserk and tear those wolverines apart!"

With an enraged look in her eyes and her little muscles almost bulging out of her clothes, Ranma spun around at an uncanny speed, kicking and punching. As the battered and bruised little girl began to overcome her adversaries, her grandfather took hold of a net full of more wolverines and let them go into the pit right over Ranma.

"Noooo!" Ranma screamed as the ferocious animals fell on her, slashing and biting.

"Keep at it, Ranma! You're almost there!"

Once again the wolverines attacked, over powering Ranma again, but this time the exhausted girl went crashing to the ground. She was about to be devoured until a golden/brown haired rabbit came flying into the pit after hopping over Ryu's head. It zoomed downward like a dive bomber, using its little paws to strike the wolverines, knocking many of them out while surprising them. And as many of them turned away from the girl and attacked the rabbit, Ranma was able to make a comeback and attack with three 6 inch light blue, fluorescent blades coming out of the dorsal sides of her hands, slicing through the wolverines like a hot knife through butter.

"Yes, that's it!" Happosai cheered, raising his hands in triumph.

"What's that coming out of Ranma's hands, Grandpa?" Ryu asked.

"That's the Wolverine Fist! I wasn't even sure it was possible, but Ranma has it. Now I can put you through it," the old man answered.

However, Happosai's feeling of elation turned to disappointment as the rabbit walked over to Ranma who was still teary eyed, allowing the girl to take hold of it. Then she sobbed as she embraced it to herself, eventually crying herself to sleep.

FLASHBACK ENDED

"_What a letdown! And here I thought the Wolverine Fist would make a martial artist invincible, but instead it turned Ranma into a sissy that needed to cling to a dumb animal in order to hold on to reality. I would have snatched that rabbit away, but Ranma would get feral whenever I tried to take it away from her. So there's no way I'm going to put Ryu through that!"_ Happosai thought to himself.

Later on, to Ranma's surprise, her pet rabbit had written the kanji, 響 良牙 (Ryoga) on the ground when she had tried to name him something else, even going so far as to come running quickly whenever she called him by that name.

"Just stay here for the time being, Ryoga. I'll be right back," Ranma consoled the cute little, golden brown rabbit wearing a blue scarf wrapped around its head and thoughtful eyes that looked up at her as she took it out of her shirt and placed it on the ground beside their things.

"I wish you'd have ditched that rabbit a long time ago, Ranma. There was no reason keeping it around after you had mastered the kuzuriken.Having a little pet like that is so girly," Ryu commented to his cousin with a sideward glance.

"Thanks to Ryoga, I'm not insane right now. It was terrible being cooped up with all those wolverines," Ranma replied.

One of the other reasons Happosai had brought his granddaughter along the training trip was to put her through life threatening martial arts techniques only putting his grandson through them as soon as Ranma had gone through them all right unlike the kuzuriken.

"Don't be such a weak little girl. Besides, since I'm a man, I'm more important than you are. It's highly unusual for a girl to be training in martial arts like you do. At any rate, it's obvious to me you're using that rabbit which often sleeps in your shirt to compensate for the fact that you don't have a man," Ryu replied giving Ranma a wry smile.

"That's not true, Ryu!" Ranma answered with her blushing red from head to toe, her eyes widening in scandalized embarrassment.

"You know I'm right. You've often had that creature nuzzling in your bosom," Ryu snapped back, raising his eyebrows in a lascivious manner.

FLASHBACK

After having walked through a part of China that had a proportionally large amount of martial artists from which Ranma and Ryu learned and fought, the group of three made camp at a place nearby a turbulent river. While washing herself, Ranma bathed Ryoga as well, holding on to him and making sure he didn't get dragged away with the flow of the river. After using her own ki to dry herself and her pet sooner than would been possible otherwise, she put on a clean set of clothes and placed Ryoga on her shoulder.

Upon taking a deep breath and getting into a relaxed martial arts stance, Ranma began to engage in several tai chi movements, slowly punching and kicking the air in fluid movements, practically floating in the air when executing roundhouse kicks. As a chilling wind blew by them, Ranma ignored the blowing tempest. Thus the cold rabbit made his way down into the warmth of her bosom inside the girl's shirt.

Ranma's eyes went wide as she started to twitch and wriggle around as her rabbit nuzzled its whiskers and nose against her flesh. Then her mouth crinkled into a smile until she burst out in uninhibited giggling.

"No, not again! That tickles! You always want to hide in there where I'm sensitive! Stop that!" Ranma protested, her cheeks getting red and her eyes getting misty. Eventually Ranma fell to the ground, rolling around in her laughter. This forced her pet to move all over her upper to keep from being squashed, increasing the tickling sensations Ranma was feeling.

"Hahahahaha! Hehehehehehe. I can't take much more of this! Mercy, please!" Ranma begged with a gasp, prompting the rabbit which seemed to understand what she had said to come out from the top of her tunic and smile up at her innocently.

"Whew! Now, behave yourself, Ryoga. I need to train right now," Ranma admonished with a pat on his head as she placed him back on her shoulder.

From several yards away Ryu had watched the whole event, leaning against a tree. _"What I wouldn't give to be that little rabbit."_

FLASHBACK ENDED

Ranma scowled at her cousin for a moment. Then she answered him. "I think it's a good thing I've had Ryoga here with me, especially since he has protected me from you when you've made attempts to put your hands down my shirt," the girl said with a smirk and a knowing look.

"I wasn't trying anything of the sort!" Ryu denied strongly.

"Oh, really? Then why have I woken up with Ryoga biting you and the top of my shirt ripped up more than once? Hmm?"

"I was just checking on you. There was no reason for that rascally rabbit to take a bite out of me," Ryu snapped.

"If that was true and you knew Ryoga slept in my shirt, how was he able to bite your hand so easily? Hmm? I think you were trying to cop a feel on me."

"That's not true!" Ryu stammered, his face getting red.

"Quite, you two!"

Happosai was surprised the guide wasn't coming out to greet them as he normally would do. As it was, the place seemed to be deserted.

Then several earth shaking thumps resonated under their feet, making Ranma's little rabbit scream frantically.

"Shut that creature up before I snap its neck," Happosai told her, giving the bunny a sharp glare.

"Grandpa, there's something coming this way, and it's huge. I can feel it, and so can my pet," Ranma announced.

"Don't be such a paranoid female, Ranma. It's obvious mastering more martial arts than any woman has a right to learn has made you think you're more intelligent than you actually are. Maybe taking you along this training trip was a mistake," Happosai replied as he looked around the area.

"But, Grandpa!"

"Never mind that now! It's time for one last spar. I want the both of you to leap onto a bamboo spike and fight each other," the old man ordered.

"Yes, Grandfather!" both Ranma and Ryu responded in unison.

"And avoid being knocked into the pools of water all around here."

"Yes, Grandfather!"

As soon as Ranma and Ryu had each leaped on top of a bamboo pole, they got on one leg in the martial arts crane stance.

"_I'll beat Ranma this time and eventually prove to her and everyone else that I'm the greatest martial artist on the planet. After that I'll use my power to someday rule the world!"_

"Let's get this battle started. I won't go easy on you even though you're a girl, Ranma!" Ryu said with more than a little bit of contempt as his eyes narrowed in on her.

"Since when have you taken it easy on me? How many times has Gramps used me as a punching bag while you were learning a particular punch or kick? Then there were the times when you almost choked me to death while sharpening your grappling skills. If it wasn't for that shrunken old lady who lives over a dozen miles from here, I wouldn't have been able to have handled the punishment you and Grandpa have dished out to me."

"What the heck are you talking about?! As it is, you're probably the toughest girl on the planet. Grandpa has been more than generous with teaching you martial arts skills a female wouldn't normally have a right to learn," Ryu replied with an arrogant sneer.

"Is that so?"

Ranma had indeed acquired many martial arts techniques due to her ability to learn things quickly. On the training trip there were many martial arts masters who had taken pity on the battered little girl, teaching her their techniques. Many simply saw her learning potential and wanted to sow their martial arts into someone who could reap the benefits. There were also more than a few female martial artists who saw the talent Ranma had and worked especially hard to train her.

"Yes, that's so."

"Did Grandpa have the right to run high bills and steal valuable objects, leaving me to take responsibility for what he had done?"

Many a time the people whom Happosai and Ryu had robbed taken hold of Ranma who was often knocked unconscious or thrown into the pursuing mob and left to her fate. There had even been a few times when Ranma had been tied up in ropes or chains, in lieu of being put her on an auction block. At that point, the gorgeous girl had been stripped nearly or all together naked, enduring humiliating assaults on her person before she was able to escape and catch up with her cousin and grandfather later.

"Quit complaining," Ryu said with a pause. Then he regarded his cousin for a moment, noticing that her stance was different, more balanced than his own. Her whole body practically defied gravity as she was poised on the pole, ready to attack.

"There's more going on with you than you let on. I bet you've been holding out on us all this time. I've always suspected that."

"What if I have?" Ranma said.

"All of that is irrelative anyway since it won't be of much use to you against me anyway. Now quit your belly aching and fight!"

The two martial artists flew into each other, fighting midair with countless punches, kicks, blocks and counter attacks going back and forth. The both of them were poetry in motion as they seemed to hover in the air several yards over the springs. However, Ranma began to get more and more hits in than her cousin. As it was, her lightning fast hands and feet were proving to be too much for her larger opponent.

"You're pretty fast, Ranma. Ouch! You've obviously engaged in a lot of speed training to make up for the fact you're a weak little girl," Ryu stated as he executed a force attack by clapping his hands together and shoving them forward, creating a cone shaped force attack that increased in width as it got further and further away from the his hands.

"I'm not a little girl! I'm the strongest woman in the world!" Ranma announced as she seemingly hovered in the air, the wind tugging at her hair since her pigtail string had been sliced off during the fight. Even the front of her shirt had a rip in the middle of it.

As Ryu's attacks became unavoidable, Ranma rolled with the most recent blow, gliding backwards to the top of another bamboo spike. Upon landing safely, Ranma breathed out, her normally roomy tunic straining against her bosom, increasing the tear in it.

"I'll say. You're pretty good at retreating too," Ryu said as his eyebrows raised and his eyes zeroed in on the increasing tear in her shirt.

"I'm just getting warmed up, Ryu. I can see that Grandpa has taught you martial arts techniques that weren't as dangerous as the ones he put me through. But that's OK; I can still beat you. And it was obvious that I was about to kick your ass when you used that secret technique on me. If anyone has retreated, it was you!" Ranma then leaped over a few bamboo poles, bouncing her way towards her opponent.

"Is that so? Let's see if you can back up those words, little girl!" Ryu then attacked with his vacuum blade attack, composed of clear, four by twelve inch shiny window pane-looking shards that the fiery redhead was able to deftly avoid as she kept leapfrogging her way towards her opponent.

"You'll have to do better than that, Ryu."

"Then I will."

Ryu waved his hands and shoved them towards his cousin, knocking Ranma off of her leap projectory with telekinetic force attack. This prompted her to use her acrobatic skills, doing a rapid cartwheel in midair to right herself. Then she glided her way on one of the flat sides of the multiple vacuum blades that Ryu had kept sending her way.

"_Hmm. Ever since I've twice dunked Ranma in the Spring of Drowned Girl, she's shown an unusually high amount of reflexes and agility in addition to her heightened good looks. Right now she's faster than Ryu or me. This might make bringing her to heel a little more difficult. But I'll think of something. My plans for the easy life must come to fruition,"_ Happosai thought to himself as he watched the fight with interest.

"Whew!"

"There's nothing you can do against me, Ranma. Why don't you just admit to defeat? It's obvious you'll need to be retrained all over again."

Happosai nodded his head in approval of his grandson's prowess against a quicker, more agile adversary until a horrifying sight caught his eyes. Several yards away from the springs, leaning against the bamboo hut was a man wearing a brown cap and clothes with his eyes and mouth open blankly, covered in a block of light red, transparent slime.

"_Who is that over there? That's the guide! What happened to him?"_

The old man walked over to the horrid stench and sight, giving it a more intense viewing. He could have sworn the man had giant sized teeth marks embedded in him, but the teeth marks looked human. It was as if the man had been chomped, swallowed whole, and vomited out.

"_This doesn't make any sense. Are there human hybrid dragons around here? I've heard the pools of Jusenkyo had more magical transformational qualities beyond what I did to Ranma, but from what I understood the power of springs has weakened over the years. Anyway, as soon as Ryu is finished humbling his uppity cousin, we'll leave this place."_

As Ryu's vacuum blades got closer, three 6 inch light blue, almost crystal clear ki claws broke out from in between and behind Ranma's knuckles out of the dorsal side of each of her hands, allowing her to slice up the vacuum blades that had gotten a little too close for comfort, surprising her cousin with her quickness and accuracy.

While the battle raged on, the thumping sounds of powerful feet got closer, prompting Ranma's little pet rabbit to scream hideously loud as if it was trying to warn its mistress of something.

"Easy, Ryoga!" Ranma called out from the top of her perch. Then Ranma sensed something amiss and held a hand to her ear in order to better make out the distant noises she was hearing. Then she put a hand to her eyes which widened when she saw a larger than life sight to behold getting closer and closer. This perturbed Ryu who felt that Ranma was ignoring him, thus he decided his cousin needed to be shown the error of her ways.

"Pay attention, Ranma! Hyaaah!" With surprising quickness that belied his unusual stature, Ryu leapt into the distracted Ranma knocking her high into the sky with a fierce uppercut to the chin causing her to eventually fall towards one of the pools below near the edge of Jusenkyo.

"Yeow!" Ranma screamed as she skillfully glided towards the closet bamboo pole and bounced her feet off of it. Then she leapt towards another pole and bounded off of that. She kept this process going until she was able to land safely on solid ground away from the springs.

"Not bad, little girl. But you still lost!" Ryu called out as he leaped from off of his pole to another until he was only a few feet from her.

"Can't you hear that?" Ranma asked no one in particular.

"Hear what? What are you talking about? You're just using your over active imagination to distract me from the fact that I just kicked your well-formed ass all over the place," Ryu answered, giving her an accusatory glare while Happosai looked on.

"Surely, your training as a martial artist has allowed you to be more aware of your environment," Ranma said with a pert look in his direction.

At that point, the thumps got even louder and closer. Even the ground under them began to shake.

Then a look of recognition appeared on Happosai's face. "What the heck is that?!"

Happosai gasped as he noticed several giants of various sizes stumbling their way towards them. The dopey smiles on their faces had a hint of menace to them as they rocked back and forth as if they were drunk, being totally naked without any kind of genitalia.

"I wish I had been born a guy so you would have listened to me, Grandfather! I knew coming here was a bad idea," Ranma called out as she ran towards her pet rabbit and scooped it up, placing it in the safety of the bosom of her tunic.

"Never mind that now. Run!" Happosai yelled, prompting his grandchildren to follow after his fleeing form which seemed to be moving faster than the wind.

The fleeing group seemed to be in the clear as they widened the gap between them and their pursuers until a couple of giants broke free of the pack and ran towards them with an uncanny speed, almost catching up to them.

"_I had hoped to make a fortune from selling Ranma to the highest bidder, but the way things are going now, there's no help for it. I'm going to have to sacrifice Ranma in order to escape,"_ Happosai thought to himself as the giants got closer. The old man took hold of the surprised girl, spinning her around at super human speed countless times for more momentum. Then he threw her upwards in the face of their closest pursuer as if he was engaging in an Olympic hammer throw.

"Heeeyyyyy!" Ranma screamed as she went flying into the air head first at an inhuman speed.

The titanic hunters in the front had long black hair, the first one being fifty feet tall while the other was forty feet tall. The taller one had an enormous head proportionately larger than the rest of its body and a large mouth with sharp teeth at which Ranma got a good look as its gaping maw got closer and closer.

"Was that really necessary, Gramps?" Ryu Kumon commented without missing a beat as they continued to run.

Ryu didn't think much of his cousin, but surely she didn't deserve to be the meal of some naked giant, did she?

"Don't question me, boy. What I did was for the art. I wasn't really thrilled with the idea of taking Ranma along with us on this training trip until I realized how useful she could be to my plans. Her unusual speed and agility made her a good sparring partner for you as well."

"In addition to that, her good looks and ability to escape out of ropes and bindings allowed me to sell her in marriage to several rich lords and have her escape, catching up with us at a later date. I had even hoped to eventually sell her into a marriage to an extremely rich feudal lord or even a daimyo, but sacrifices must be made."

The two men didn't look back as they kept on running. Thus they ignored the high pitched scream and stumbling noises behind them which allowed them to widen the gap until they ran by some more giants which started to pursue them upon noticing them. These monstrous creatures ranged from twenty to thirty feet tall looking similar to the previous ones.

"What are we going to do now?" Ryu asked his grandfather who simply kept on running. Then Ryu sped up and got ahead of his mentor by several feet.

"Oh, no you don't!" Happosai called out as he put his hands together and created a ki based, bright silver energy blast that tripped up his grandson allowing the older man to get ahead of him.

"What'd you do that for?!" Ryu screamed as he quickly shot forward onto his feet just in time to avoid getting stomped by their lead pursuer.

"How dare you run ahead of your grandfather?!" Happosai responded as Ryu caught up to him.

Then Ryu felt something strange about the footfalls of their titanic pursuers. Thus his senses told him that the giants pursuing them weren't as heavy as their visible height and mass would normally make them out to be. Therefore it wouldn't be impossible to throw the smaller ones around.

At that point, Ryu let his grandfather get a little ahead of him and allowed a fifteen-footer with large, gangly hands to catch up to him. Then the young martial artist attacked with his vacuum blades slicing through it and knocking it down. And before the creature could do anything else, Ryu took hold of it, spinning it around by its hands in the same manner his grandfather had done with Ranma earlier. Then he violently threw the giant into the other pursuing predators much like a boomerang, knocking the others down like bowling pins.

"That will buy us some time." However, Ryu's euphoria turned into dismay as the injuries of the one he had attacked smoked up and healed as if nothing had happened. Then the others arose to their feet and got back into the pursuit.

"You're getting soft, boy," Happosai commented as the two continued their run.

"I don't think so, old man."

Before Happosai knew what was happening, his grandson had caught up, taken hold of him, and thrown him into the pursuing titans.

"Ryu, you worthless child! How dare you sacrifice your master this way?!" the flying old man called out to his fleeing grandson.

"Sorry, Gramps! Sacrifices have to be made! I'll be sure to continue the art for you!" Ryu yelled over his shoulder as he continued running.

Happosai evaded the chapping teeth of the closest colossus, landing on the shoulders of another nearby titan. Then he leaped up and around the other giants who proceeded to attack him, jumping on their heads and shoulders and evading their clumsy attempts to attack him. Upon counter attacking, Happosai had a look of terrified surprise as much of his attacks had either bounced off or only stunned his adversaries.

The old man put up a valiant fight, practically flying through the air all around the surrounding giants until one of his attacking vacuum blades sliced through the nape of the back of the neck of one of them causing it to go crashing to the ground in a smoking heap.

"_That's their weak point! I can make it through this!"_ Happosai thought to himself as he evaded another clumsy swing from another of the monsters.

However, the numbers and various heights of the titans were becoming too much for him as one of the smaller titans leaped over the larger ones and attacked him from behind, knocking him forward and sending him falling to earth, allowing a larger adversary to smash him into the ground with an area encompassing fist. At that point, Happosai found himself a little woozy and surrounded by more titans who proceeded to attack him, tear him apart, and crane their heads towards him, chomping on him, his screams being heard all throughout the valley.

Ryu smiled in relief as he got further and further away from his pursuers until he saw over a dozen or more giants from his right who stumbled towards him, building up their speed as they got closer.

"Uh, oh."

Then a sixty foot long walker broke out in front, growling as it ran towards the young martial artist, bridging the gap between them. However as it reached down to take hold of its intended prey, Ryu surprised the skinny giant by taking hold of the offending hand and utilizing a martial arts throw maneuver and twisting the giant around, throwing it into the others.

"Yes! I knew those things were lighter than they looked!"

Ryu wasn't out of the woods yet, however, as more titans showed up, almost surrounding him. Eventually smaller twelve to fifteen foot giants rushed their way towards him as the quick footed sprinter ran into a forest of trees with large branches that made it difficult for the larger titans to travel through.

During this time, Ryu kept on running in a zig zag motion until he used his massive martial strength to strike a nine foot tall tree, uprooting it. Then he kicked it in the direction of the pursuing titans, tripping them with it and causing them to fall forward onto the ground into a mass of entangled flesh.

"_While I was making a run for it and looking over my shoulder, I noticed that Gramps struck one of those giants with one of his vacuum blades in the back of its neck. Is that the best way to take them down?"_ Ryu thought to himself as he widened the gap between his pursuers, getting deeper and deeper into the forest.

Ryu had begun to get a little tired from the fast paced, long term sprint in which he had been engaging when another titan took notice of him. This twenty-five foot monster had brown hair and crawled on all fours like a crab. Then it moved in on Ryu with surprising speed, prompting the spry martial artist to leap ten feet into the air to avoid the chapping teeth. The crawling titan's eyes widened in surprise as it looked up towards its escaping prey. Then it made the crucial mistake of trying to leap upwards himself, smashing his head against a nearby large, thick oak tree, knocking itself out.

"Whoa! These things are everywhere. Where can I go?" Ryu announced to no one in particular as he stopped to sit down on a branch after climbing and leaping upon a twenty foot oak tree.

"_Whew! I wonder where all these giants came from,"_ Ryu thought to himself as he finally rested from his exertions. However, unbeknownst to the exhausted, young man a thirty foot giant had walked over to his tree. Then he grabbed him and threw him down the hatch.

XXX

As Ranma kept flying towards the mouth of the particularly large titan, her pet rabbit came tearing out of her shirt, popping a couple buttons off and increasing the rip in it.

"Ryoga, what are you doing?! Come back here! Nooooo!"

The rabbit had a look of intensity in its eyes as it ignored its mistress's cries and charged the advancing titan, striking it in the nose with a translucent silver/white colored ki war hammer that appeared in its paws. The circular handle of the hammer was nine inches long while being two inches in diameter. The business end of the weapon was a six by twelve inches squared with sharp axe ends on either side of it.

"Aargh!" screamed the titan as it recoiled back into some other titans causing a few of them to stumble onto the ground.

Despite her surprise, Ranma deftly used her phenomenal skill and agility to leap up and over the rankled titans who were too entangled in each other to effectively reach for her.

"Ryoga, where are you?!"

Ranma was shocked when she saw her pet rabbit flying in the air on its own power going from one giant to another, slicing the napes of their necks with the axe ends of his hammer, causing them to go crashing to the ground in a smoldering heap of smoke. However, good fortune didn't continue to smile on the flying rabbit, as a fifty-footer managed to strike Ryoga from behind sending him flying head over heels into the direction of the pools of Jusenkyo. Then the same giant turned towards Ranma who had deftly landed on the ground a few feet in front of it.

"What did you to do my pet rabbit, you overgrown hunk of flesh?!" Ranma called out to the larger than life creature making its way to her.

For a moment, the titan said nothing.

"Don't want to talk? Wanna fight?!"

Still it said nothing.

"Oh, yeah? Bite me!"

As if in answer, the colossus smiled, showing a large row of sharp teeth. Then it stepped towards Ranma who ran straight for it, her kuzuriken ki claws out and at the ready.

"Yeow!" The girl ran past the downward reaching hand of the giant and sliced off one of the Achilles Tendons of the creature, causing it to fall forward.

"_That's it!"_ Ranma thought to herself as she ran further away from the injured behemoth. However, upon looking over her shoulder at it, she saw the daunting white smoke come out of where its heel had been injured, causing it to heal up rather quickly. Then the formerly injured behemoth smiled at her and got to its feet, getting into a run, making its way back towards her.

"_Uh, oh."_

"Ranma!" someone called out to her.

Upon looking up, the redheaded girl noticed a drop dead gorgeous, practically naked man except for the tan scarf she had wrapped her pet rabbit in. The young man sported gorgeous, long, flowing, jet black hair and broad shoulders. He was six feet two inches tall weighing a well-defined, muscular 225 pounds with twenty inch arms. In addition to that, the man was flying in the air towards her.

"What the…"

"Ranma, it's me, Ryoga. Here, let me pick you up. We need to get out of here; more titans are on their way. There's no time to lose!"

"Ryoga? But how?"

Upon sensing one of her pursuers getting closer, Ranma jumped up, allowing the flying young man to grasp hold of her, taking her up to the skies as even more titans made their way to them, reaching out for them. A few of them even jumped up after them, but the young man was too quick for them, evading the grasping hands.

"We'll be all right, Ranma. I simply have to find a tree that's taller than any of these titans," Ryoga said to the bewildered girl.

"All right, but where do we go from here?" Ranma asked, giving the gorgeous man another once over.

"Just hold on."

XXX

In another part of the world in southern Russia, Ranko Saotome looked around the snowy wasteland when a feeling of hope came out of nowhere. Then she took to the skies feeling better about her situation.

XXX

Ryu Kumon shouldn't be confused with Ryu from the Street Fighter video game.


	2. The Long Journey

Attack on Ranma

Chapter Two

"_THOUGHTS"_

XXX

Ranma was surprised as her transformed pet took her aloft on his own power, his hair being tugged by the wind as he flew towards a very large, 100 foot tall oak tree. Then he set her down on a three foot thick branch where there was enough room for them to sit without leaves or smaller branches getting in their faces.

"How'd you do all that, Ryoga?" Ranma asked as she looked towards the strapping, young man before her.

"Well, I…"

"Wait a minute. Let me give you something to cover up with," Ranma interrupted.

"What clothes do you have?"

"I'll let you have my pants."

"But what will you do?" Ryoga answered, blushing more than a little as he regarded his former mistress with widened eyes.

"Don't worry about it. My shirt is long and baggy enough to cover me up well enough. Your naked body is distracting."

Ryoga found the first part of Ranma's statement rather incredulous as her protuberant pulchritude threatened to come bursting out of the torn, open buttoned tunic, but he took the proffered pants and put them on. However, he couldn't keep his eyes from wandering towards the exposed midriff, well-formed thighs, and hips of his former mistress.

"Ryoga?"

"Um, yes."

"What happened?"

"Oh, that. It's a long story."

"Well, it looks like we have a whole lot of time right now, so start from the beginning," Ranma replied, giving Ryoga a pert look as she shifted herself on the tree branch to make herself a little more comfortable.

"All right. My memory of what has happened is somewhat foggy, but I'll do my best. First of all, my name was previously Eren Yeager."

"I thought your name was Ryoga."

Ryoga had shown Ranma his name by scribbling it on the ground when he was her pet rabbit. Ranma had thought it strange that her rabbit was so intelligent, but due to recent events she finally understood why.

"That's the name I acquired in my previous universe, and that's the name I prefer to go by right now. Here's how I left this plane of existence."

FLASHBLACK a few years ago

As a high ranking member of the military carried him and his adopted sister away from his mother who had been trapped under the debris of her home, Eren struggled trying to break free. Then he saw a large titan remove the carnage of his home and take hold of his mother, throwing her in his mouth and chomping her into gristle.

"Nooo!" Eren cried out as the titan walked away. Then the little boy broke free of the soldier who was holding him and ran back towards his ruined home.

"Eren, come back here. It's too dangerous!" the fleeing soldier called out over his shoulder. Then to the soldier's surprise the girl he had taken hold of broke free of him as well, attempting to catch up to her brother, prompting their rescuer to chase after her as well. However, Eren was moving too fast for her or anyone else to catch up to him. He had moved with so much speed and force that he ran into a smaller, twelve foot titan and knocked him to the ground.

By the time he had gotten to his ruined home he tripped into a crushed area. He had fallen with so much momentum that he crashed through the locked door to the basement which was his father's lab, eventually smashing into filled bottles of liquid and electronic equipment that was still lit up, causing an explosion that started a chain reaction and blew him up, out of that world.

"_I'll destroy the titans no matter what it takes. I'll see them all dead!"_ Eren thought to himself as he vanished.

"Eren! Nooo!" his sister cried out in anguish as the force of the explosion sent her flying backwards and onto the ground.

"There's nothing we can do for him, we have to get out of here," the soldier said, taking her by the hand to safety as his eyes welled up.

FLASHBACK ENDED

"How did you get the ability to fly and make a double edged war hammer appear out of thin air?" Ranma asked impatiently.

"The explosion transported me into two different other universes. In the first one I was a guy who always got lost and got cursed to turn into a small pig with the application of cold water."

"Was there a Jusenkyo in that universe?"

"Yes, in fact I had a rivalry with a guy named Ranma who was also cursed to turn into a girl, a girl who looked a lot like you."

"Really? Do you hate me?" Ranma said with a tinge of disappointment.

"No. But this guy had the biggest ego and would always beat me in our martial arts battles. Despite all that, I eventually learned to get along with the guy even though he married the girl I was in love with. Eventually I got lost and found my way in another universe."

"Oh. What happened in that other universe?" Ranma asked excitedly.

"The second universe had the most powerful martial artists who were practically super human. Fortunately, an old man found me walking in the street listless and in torn clothes. This man took me in and trained me in his martial arts which included the ability to fly and make an axe/hammer made of ki appear in my hands. In addition to that I was able to use my powerful spirit to become faster, stronger, and tougher."

"Eventually I trained further under another old, bald guy along with a monk and a kid with spiked hair who was able to fly using a cloud."

Then Ryoga looked forward intently, tensing his muscles as he concentrated in order to remember what else had happened.

Ranma regarded the physique of her long haired pet, allowing a small smile to form on her face. Then she sat there, prompting him to continue with a wave of her hands.

"What happened next?"

"We had a few adventures together until we went up against a villain named Boss Rabbit who turned me into the rabbit you've known me to be. Then he got hold of some ball shaped jewels and wished I would go back to where I came from. Thus I came back here."

"I'm happy to see you were trained so well, Ryoga. Did it take long for you to learn those techniques?" Ranma asked expectantly.

"No, not really. For some reason it was easier learning unusual techniques in that universe than it is here. I wasn't able to learn how to shoot off ki energy blasts the way some of the other martial artists there were able to do, but I can get the same effect by throwing my ki hammer at my opponents. I also have the ability to throw a huge, area encompassing energy blast, but that requires a great deal of depression that I no longer have," Ryoga explained.

"Oh. Do you think you can teach me how to fly?" Ranma asked hopefully.

"I don't think I could. Everything I learned in that place became inherent, becoming natural to me by the time I had returned."

"Oh, I see," Ranma said in a downcast manner. Then she perked up again. "I'm sure I can learn it. You remember how I learned the kuzuriken, don't you? If I can learn a ki attack like that, I can learn anything. Won't you teach it to me please?"

Ryoga looked upon Ranma's pleading puppy eyes for a moment. "All right, Ranma. I'll try, but it will be up to you to learn it."

"That's all I ask."

"Fair enough. However, there are some other techniques I'm more certain that I can teach you."

"That will be wonderful!" Ranma stated excitedly in anticipation of expanding her martial arts repertoire. Then the girl smiled as she gave her former pet's new body another admiring look.

Ryoga blushed a little under his former mistress' gaze. Then Ranma continued talking.

"How long were you in those universes, and how long have you been living here in this world as a little animal?" Ranma asked.

"I was in the first universe for twenty-five years. I was in the second universe for around five years. And as far as the time I spent here as a rabbit, I'd say a little less than a year. During this time, I've seen and heard a lot of things even though my mind wasn't working all that well when I was a rabbit," Ryoga explained.

"You seemed to know what was going on better than me or my grandfather did. How is that?" Ranma enquired.

"As you have seen, I had unusual abilities even as a little animal. For a period of time from before I met you after you were mauled by all those wolverines while your grandfather tried to get you to learn the kuzuriken, I made my way throughout the world, getting a few opportunities to look at maps. And since I was so small, I was able to use stealth and concealment. During that time I saw a lot of things that made my blood grow cold."

"You mean like those giants out there?" Ranma asked.

"Yes, but they're actually called titans. I don't know how they arrived on the earth, but they originated in Europe far north of where I was born. In time, the titans travelled all over the planet devouring all of humanity," Ryoga answered gravely.

"Maybe we can go back to Japan. Won't things be better over there?" Ranma asked with a look of concern.

"No, the titans have over run the whole world. The only place that even comes close to being safe is a place in Central Europe surrounded by three 200 foot walls."

"All right, but how did you turn back into a man, a gorgeously powerful looking man at that," Ranma said with an admiring smile in the young man's direction, his muscularly defined arms, pectorals, abdominals, and long, flowing hair impressing her.

With more than a little bit of blushing which made Ranma smile and admire the youth all the more, Ryoga answered. "Um, well. During my travels all over Asia, I've overheard people talk about the waters of Jusenkyo and what they were capable of."

"I see," Ranma said, looking in the direction of the springs from which they had come.

"Yes. The springs are capable of permanently transforming whoever takes two dips into them into whatever drowned there previously. When I found that I had turned back into a powerful, young man, I took another dip into the same pool to make things permanent."

"You mean if I had fallen into one of those pools when I was sparring with my cousin I could have turned into something else?"

"Yes, it was simply my fortune to have fallen into the Spring of Drowned Man and your fortune that you didn't fall into any of the springs at all," Ryoga explained as the girl visibly shuddered at the fact that she had barely avoided falling into one of the springs earlier.

"Oh." Then Ranma looked downwards and noticed a couple dozen titans making their way towards their tree.

"You won't have to worry about the titans down there unless one of them is capable of climbing," Ryoga said as he regarded the look of concern on Ranma's face.

"All right. Did you ever cross paths with these titans? And if you did, how did you avoid becoming a meal for these creatures?"

"As a rabbit, that wasn't a problem since the titans aren't really interested in eating anything but people. As it was, the biggest problem I had was keeping myself from getting trampled on. You know what happened when a titan killed my mother."

"Yes, I'm sorry about that. My parents died a long time ago too."

"I don't know whether or not my father's alive. I don't even know if my adopted sister, cousin, and my friend are still alive either."

Ryoga's eyes stared out into the sunset with hot intensity as the hate he had for the titans came flooding back into him. Ranma watched as his muscles pulsated with unbridled rage as he shook himself to the point he almost fell off of the thick tree limb.

"Ryoga. Ryoga? Ryoga!"

"Oh, yes. Sorry about that," the boy quieted.

"OK. How is it, you're so strong? I knew you were strong for a rabbit, but your strength is obviously above and beyond anyone I know including myself," Ranma stated, regarding the obvious power and vitality of her former pet's body, mind, and spirit.

The boy paused for a moment. Then he turned toward his former mistress with a look of seriousness in his face.

"In the other place in which I lived, I became very strong, learning how to use ki, even though I wasn't anywhere near one of the strongest fighters there. The kid with spiked hair eventually grew to be so strong as to make me look like a weakling in comparison. In addition to all that, the Spring of Drowned Man has a tendency to make someone a more ideal version of what drowned there years ago. Thus I'm manlier than I would have been otherwise."

"I'll say," Ranma commented with a smile.

"Come to think of it, you're awfully powerful and impressively built as a female. Have you taken a dip into the Spring of Drowned Girl?" Ryoga asked, regarding the girl's impressive physique.

"Hmm."

It then occurred to Ranma that the last time she was here that she had woken up drenched with her grandfather standing over her. Ever since that day, her agility had increased despite her the newly amply endowed physique that stood at attention, developing over time. She had even been able to recover from injuries and hardcore training much sooner, allowing her to get stronger at a faster rate.

"My grandfather must have poured that water on me somehow. I get it now!" Ranma stated, pounding a fist into her palm.

"Are you all right, Ranma?"

"I'm all right. Now let's get back to the business at hand. Have you any idea how to fight these titans that seem to be over running the world?"

"Yes. I've found out that they each has a weakness at the nape of the back of their necks by watching a few swordsmen from China and Japan get lucky enough to strike the titans in that area. Seeing your grandfather use one of his attacks to slice the nape of the back of the neck of one of the titans thus destroying it confirmed that."

"Oh, I see that now. Do you have any idea how to get to that three walled city, assuming that place still exists?" Ranma asked.

"I don't know exactly, but I'm capable of flying high enough in the sky so as to avoid the titans until we get there. And since I've traveled and seen many maps, I know how world works."

"That's nice to know. Let's go!"

"Not so fast. It's best we travel at night. Most titans can't function too well at night since they need the sun to energize them. Thus we only need to avoid the few titans that can actually function effectively in the dark," Ryoga replied.

Ranma regarded the young man, blinking her eyes for a long moment. "All right, but is there any way for us to get at the supplies my family had to leave near the springs? Wait, my grandfather and cousin! What happened to them?!" Ranma announced with a start.

"Take it easy, Ranma. We're several stories above the ground," Ryoga said, gesturing for her to be careful while sitting on the tree branch.

"I have to know!" Ranma stammered.

"I don't know what happened to your cousin, but your grandfather met a grisly end after putting up a good fight against the titans."

"Oh, no!" Ranma yelled.

"Didn't your grandfather toss you in the direction of those pursuing titans earlier in order to save his own skin? I'm surprised you don't hate the old man for doing that. Come to think of it, Ryu did the same thing to your grandfather a little later," Ryoga said, regarding the downcast girl.

"I know that, but I still can't hate him."

Even though Happosai had given her a lot of grief, he was still her grandfather, and there was no one else in her life besides her cousin. He had taken her in when her parents had died. (Unbeknownst to her, Happosai was behind her parents evident demise) Despite his oft times coldness directed at her, there were a few times when he held her in his arms and made sure she was covered up when it was cold.

"Even my younger sister is gone. I'm all alone," Ranma answered sadly with her eyes getting moist.

"Don't worry, Ranma. You have me. I'll help you. I won't forget how kind you were to me even though I was only a rabbit at the time."

"Oh, thank you, Ryoga," Ranma sobbed, reaching over and taking hold of him, prompting her former pet to hold her in response.

XXX

Later, under the cover of the dark moonless after the titans who had approached their tree were nowhere to be seen, Ryoga carried Ranma down towards Jusenkyo, careful not to fall into any of the springs.

"Our provisions are still here!" Ranma shouted as she reached over and took hold of one of the huge backpacks and reached inside for another string to tie her hair into a pigtail again.

"We should go through these and take only what we need. Keeping that in mind, we still can't spend too much time here."

"All right. How long will it take us to get to those walled cities?"

"I actually don't know. I really hope we don't have to walk through too much titan infested territory. Even though the titans tend to be sluggish or inactive all together at night, we still need to stay alert for all kinds of dangers," Ryoga stated somberly.

"Well, we got what we can carry. What we have here should last us for a week or so."

On the several years long training trip she had been on with her grandfather and cousin, Ranma had learned how to survive out in the wild. Thus she was sure they'd be able to survive long enough for them to find the three walled country.

"That's good, Ranma. We'll need to head northwest."

"Away from Japan?"

"Yes, this will take us through the Steppes."

"The Steppes?" Ranma asked with a look of incredulity.

Ryoga stopped staring into the starry horizon and turned towards the young girl. "It's a place near southern Russia. I can only hope we can get through the Caspian Sea without any unforeseeable problems. Sooner or later we'll need to find some maps that show us exactly where my former home is located."

Ranma nodded in understanding. "That's sounds like a whole lot of traveling. Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"I've been all over much of the world, and I have seen maps of the world from books owned by a friend of mine from when I was still living within Wall Maria. So I know what's going on for the most part," Ryoga answered with a sense of certainty.

Ranma regarded her former pet with a tilt of her head, feeling as if he was telling her the truth.

"All right. Let's go."

XXX

Ryoga whooshed over the deserts and wastelands with Ranma and their luggage in tow, flying northwest towards Central Europe. Even though they had to walk the distance sometimes, he was in a hurry to get back home since he had no idea what had happened to the rest of the walls. For all he knew the titans had already eaten his stepsister, cousin, and friend the way they had eaten his mother.

They were able to avoid the titans for the most part, but there were times when they and the titans clashed!

"This is a good place to stop and rest. I'm surprised this place would be here out in the middle of the desert," Ranma announced, wiping the sweat off her brow as the bright sun bore down on them and shone on the oasis which consisted of over a dozen palm trees, lush plant life, fruit trees, and a large, fresh pool of water whose surface glowed in the sunlight.

"Yes. We can even resupply our provisions from here," Ryoga confirmed.

For an hour or so, they spent time taking food and water from around the area, resupplying their nearly empty backpacks. Then Ryoga visibly paused.

"What is it, Ryoga?"

"Someone's coming."

As soon as the words were out of the young man's mouth loud thumping noises made their way towards them.

Running towards the oasis was half a dozen titans of various sizes, the lead titan being 50 feet tall with short brown hair, swarthy skin, fierce black eyes and an overly muscular physique. The one right behind him was thirty-five feet tall, broad shouldered and bald while the others were between twelve and fifteen feet tall with unusually round, rotund bodies.

"I'll take you into the sky, Ranma!" Ryoga called out.

"No, Ryoga. I'm tired of running. There's only a few of them and most of them aren't that big. And I want to make sure none of them fall into the fresh water or near the fruit trees around here."

"But, Ranma…"

"You can take on the larger ones if you want. I'll take on the others," Ranma replied as three twelve inch, light blue fluorescent ki claws appeared out of her hands. Then she ran out of the cool, humid oasis on to the hot desert sands to the titans charging towards them.

Ranma had done a good job increasing the size and damage of her kuzuriken ki claws, but Ryoga still wasn't comfortable with the idea of her fighting titans from the ground. Nonetheless he took to the skies and regarded the redheaded girl, passing over her towards the largest titan while brandishing his powerful axe/hammer.

"Be careful, Ranma!"

"I'll be all right, Ryoga! Each time I fight the titans, I get better and better. Besides, I can move a whole lot faster than most of them. I can slice off the heads of the smaller ones from the nape of their necks if I have to. Look alive. Here they come!"

The largest titan raised its eyebrows, regarding Ryoga quizzically as the boy flew past its grasping right hand, making his way to the nape of his neck and ruthlessly using his axe to slice through it, causing the giant to go crashing forward to the ground in a smoldering hulk.

The next biggest titan leaped up towards Ryoga barely missing a reaching attempt to take hold of him as the aerial warrior evaded by flying upwards. After the titan's failed attempt, the axe/hammer welding warrior touched down on the dorsal side of the creature's grasping hand, running down its arm towards its neck and flying off until he was behind the titan allowing him to slice the nape of its neck with a sharp edge of his ki weapon, destroying the monster.

While this was going on, Ranma had moved in on the smallest, twelve foot titan which had gotten several yards ahead of the pack. The titan reached out to what it thought would be easy prey, chapping its teeth at her. However, Ranma quickly sliced off the creatures hands. Then she pressed her advantage against the stunned giant by maneuvering herself behind her him, practically gliding on the ground at an uncanny speed. Then she sliced off its head from the nape of its neck before another ten foot titan could get to her.

"How are you doing, Ranma?!" Ryoga called out from his aerial vantage point as he continued the fight.

"I'm doing fine, Ryoga. This won't take much longer! Hyaaah!" the girl screamed as she moved through the three remaining titans, surprising them with her speed and martial arts quickness as she avoided any attempt to grab or hit her. Eventually, she sliced each of them through the nape of the neck, causing them all to go crashing to the ground in a smoldering mess.

Upon the end of the battle Ryoga touched down a few feet in front of her.

"Are you all right, Ranma?"

"I'm OK, Ryoga."

The pigtailed girl had been looking downward, noticing how the titans would turn into smoke whenever they met their destruction. It was also strange to her how when the titans got hurt, their injuries would smoke up and heal as if nothing had happened.

"I hope you aren't getting too cocky, Ranma. Despite your well-honed fighting skills, one wrong move and that will be the end of you."

Ranma smiled for a moment, looking up at him before she addressed him. "I can't promise not to get cocky, but I'll be careful when dealing with these creatures. By the way, you've done a good job fighting these titans too from what I've seen. You must have learned a whole lot from that other place you were in."

"I did, but let's leave this place quickly. I have a bad feeling about sticking around here for too long," Ryoga explained as he looked around for any more signs of trouble.

"All right, we've replenished our supplies of food and water. Now each of us can take a bath," Ranma said, getting closer to Ryoga and sniffing him a little.

"Huh?"

"Both of us haven't had a bath in weeks. Now is our chance. We can wash some of our clothes as well," Ranma answered as she took her shoes and pants off.

Ryoga was surprised when Ranma unbuttoned her top and relieved herself of it, prompting the young man's eyes to grow wide like saucers as her burgeoning breasts stood visibly at attention. Then he became breathless as she took off her undergarments!

"There isn't a whole lot of time for each of us to take a bath," Ryoga answered nervously, sweating bullets.

"Then we'll just have to bathe at the same time."

"B-but…"

Then Ranma walked back towards Ryoga in all her glory, wagging her finger in his face. "Look, Ryoga, you've seen me naked before as my pet. You've also nuzzled your whiskered nose into my bosom, tickling me pink and breathless. Why are you acting so shy all of a sudden? Look, there's no time to lose. What are you waiting for? Get your clothes off!"

"Um." Ryoga blushed crimson as he watched the naked girl do an about face and make her way into the clear blue, warm, caressing water.

"Come on!"

"All right." The blushing boy undressed, impressing the naked girl before him. Then he entered into the water.

"Feels nice, doesn't it?" Ranma said as she undid her pigtail letting her luscious, red hair cascade down her milky white shoulders.

"Yes." Despite himself, Ryoga couldn't take his eyes off the girl who simply regarded him with a tilt of her head.

"You all right, Ryoga?"

"Um, I'm fine."

"Good. How about washing my back? Then I'll do the same for you. Like you said, we don't have a whole lot of time."

"Um, all right."

A few minutes later, the two travelers made their way out of the oasis, wearing clean clothes with their new provisions in tow.

XXX

Several weeks later, the two travelers were on their way to their destination, leaping and flying from tree to tree inside southern Russia. They had recently passed over the Caspian Sea with Ryoga flying and carrying Ranma and their things as they went over that body of water.

"Be careful, Ranma!´Ryoga called out each of them moved so fast that tree branches appeared right in front of them.

"Relax, Ryoga. I know what I'm doing. Just watch where **you're** going. Why are you moving so fast?"

"I'm in a hurry to get to the walled cities. It won't be long before we're out of this forest and into the icy snow."

Fortunately they had had found an abandoned village where there were plenty of provisions and winter clothing to wear. They were even able to stay there for a couple of weeks eating sea bass, lobster, shrimp, venison, and fresh vegetables.

"I'm just grateful we didn't run into any titans there."

The cold climate had forced the traveling group to stay in the area longer than they had intended. However, at the same time, the snowy, sunless weather along with the nippy cold had inhibited the movements of the titans, giving Ranma and Ryoga some time to relax and train.

"Won't we be near some mountains soon?" Ranma asked, sensing a familiar aroma ahead.

"Yes, that will be the Caucasus Mountains. I actually wish we could have found someone alive who could have helped give us directions."

"We took some maps with us, so that should be helpful. Even acquiring those binoculars was a good idea. I still don't know why there was a need to bring what you called guns with us when we're both fairly capable of defending ourselves without the use of weapons."

"You make a good point, Ranma, but I like the idea of having a couple of rifles along with some ammunition just in case. By the way, how is your German coming along?" Ryoga asked, looking back over his shoulder at the fast moving girl.

"Es ist gut. That's what everybody was speaking there, right?" Ranma asked with the raising of one eyebrow.

"That's right."

"How did you learn Japanese so fast?" Ranma asked.

"In the first universe I was born in I was Japanese along with most of the people I knew there. When I came back here I still remembered the language."

"Das ist gut. Now, it's time for me to show you what else I can do."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Watch." After leaping from a branch, Ranma kept going, flying in the air, barely keeping up with him.

"That's great, Ranma. You're a fast learner."

"Thanks, Ryoga. After mastering the kuzuriken and other torturous techniques, learning to use my ki to fly from you wasn't all that hard."

XXX

"Well, I'm definitely getting a great work out flying all of these miles. How much farther do we have to go?"

"We still have a ways to go, but we'll get there. What we might have to do when we get close to the place is fly over the area to find out exactly where those walls are," Ryoga responded.

"It might be a good idea to find a place to hole up in the meantime," Ranma suggested as she felt the need to use her martial arts ki energy to warm her body up despite the fact she was wearing a wool parka and other winter clothing.

"Yeah." Ryoga took out a pair of binoculars that he and Ranma had found in an empty village along with other useful devices.

"You find anything?!" Ranma asked, using her own pair of binoculars.

"Yes, there's a village fifty miles west of us with more than a few houses still intact. We might be able to find someplace warm to get some sleep. Then we'll head out again in the morning. The Carpathian mountains are more than a couple dozen miles further west, so it'll be best if we fly over them as high as possible."

"All right, but we should do some walking too. We don't want our legs getting out of shape from lack of use," Ranma chuckled.

"We'll do some walking when it's safe. Flying through the air isn't really that difficult. And by flying we can move in a straight line. This will allow us to get there as soon as possible," Ryoga explained with a somber look on his face.

"You are in a hurry. Surely the people there have a way to fight the titans. I refuse believe that mankind has been wiped out," Ranma replied with a look of hope on her face.

"I agree with the sentiment, Ranma, and there were soldiers there who had equipment designed to fight the titans, but as far as I know nobody had the ability to use it all that effectively except for a few. The survey scouts were the best at dealing with the titans, but even then their survival rates were horribly low. They were often under manned because most of the military didn't want to join up with them. And I'm sure most of them aren't as competent at fighting titans as you and I are," Ryoga answered.

"Well, there's nothing else we can do except look forward to a better day," Ranma answered with a smile.

XXX

Upon arriving at the deserted village, Ranma and Ryoga found a large, red brick mansion with a chimney and a small amount of intact firewood. Thus they settled in for the night. The place was spacious and luxurious with a living room containing expensive furniture with shelves of several books. The chairs in the mansion were Sliik Alerie Oak while the tables were made of a shiny wood finish. The carpet on the floor was soft brown velvet, caressing the tired feet of Ryoga and Ranma as they walked over it.

Then the two travelers looked out the window and noticed a snow storm was brewing, prompting them to stay inside the house longer than they had intended.

"This place has everything we'll need for the long haul. Do you think that snow storm will hinder any titans in the area?" Ranma asked as she placed her large backpack down on the smooth, marble floor of the well-stocked kitchen.

"I would think so. They need sunlight to move quickly, and I didn't see any around here. However, we still have to be careful."

"I noticed some livestock and edible vegetation around here. Maybe we can have some nice, hot meals before we leave."

Ranma had spent a lot of time learning how to cook and work in kitchens when her grandfather had dined and dashed, leaving her to pay for what he had stolen with hard work. Fortunately for Ranma, some of the people for whom she had worked were great chefs who saw her culinary potential and fast moving abilities, thus they taught her their skills.

"That would be nice, Ranma."

"This kitchen is a bit unusual though," the girl answered as she rummaged through the cabinets.

"I know a little about cooking, so we can do it together. This place is more modern than most of the kitchens in Japan or China."

Ranma stopped and looked over her shoulders at the boy with narrowed eyes "Are you saying that Japan is a backwards country, hmm?"

Ryoga put his hands out in a placating manner. "Oh, no! I didn't mean it like…"

To this Ranma smiled craftily. "It's all right. I was just kidding. Anyway, there are all kinds of spices here. We can take some of these ingredients with us when we leave. I also saw a bathtub and an outhouse. We'll practically be able to live like royalty for as long as we're here," Ranma explained as she began to start heating the stove.

"I'll go forage for vegetables and livestock," Ryoga said as he walked through the front door.

XXX

Later on that night after training and trading martial arts techniques and eating much better than they had done so in a long time, Ranma and Ryoga laid down together in a large, soft bed with white fine linen and satin sheets. Despite the fact they had a fire going, it was still fairly cold in the house so the two of them huddled up together for warmth.

To the boy's surprise, Ranma had stripped down to the lace, cotton panties that she had taken from one of the lavishly, opulent wardrobes inside the large closets in the home. Then she moved closer to the startled boy and quickly pulled off his night shirt.

"We'll be able to generate more heat to each other that way," Ranma said, answering the unasked question on the boy's face.

"Oh," the boy answered nervously, turning red.

"You're cute when you blush, you know that?" Ranma said with a smile as she snuggled up to the attractive young man.

"Oh, yes. Thanks."

"Anyway. I was wondering, Ryoga," the scantily clad girl asked as she dallied her index finger in between his well-defined chest.

"About what, Ranma?"

"When you were a little rabbit sleeping in my shirt, did you tickle me deliberately or was that normally accidental?"

"Well, I…" Ryoga's face went red for a moment.

"Come on, be honest," Ranma asked with a knowing look.

"Well, whenever I tickled you in such a manner, it became more comfortable in the inside of your shirt. I felt so warm, toasty, and safe there," the boy answered nervously.

"Oh, so it was deliberate. I see. You know what?"

"What?" the boy replied with a helpless smile.

"That's not a bad idea. I'd like to be warmer and toastier too. Let's see how ticklish you are, hmm?" Ranma placed her hands under the boy's arms, gently and carefully touching sensitive areas.

"Oh, wait. I… Ha ha ha ha ha! Stop! Please!"

"You're so cute when you're laughing and begging for mercy. What a gorgeous body you have too. Let's try over here." With a wicked smile, Ranma's fingers worked their way downward to his chest, circling towards his midriff.

"Not there! Ha ha ha! Hehehehehehehehe! Uncle!"

"Uncle?"

"Auntie! Ha ha ha ha! Anything you say! Hehehehehehehe! Please!"

By then Ranma was looming over the boy, straddling him and giving him a cute, sexy, domineering look that said he was at her mercy as her fingers caressed him. "I remember a couple times when I was rolling on the ground giggling until I was pink and breathless after which you popped out of my shirt practically smiling. Is that true?"

"Well…"

As he tried to catch his breath, Ryoga noticed how Ranma's sparkling red hair had cascaded down her back and shoulders with her impressive pulchritude so close to his eyes. Thus the young man found his former mistress irresistibly ravishing.

"Be honest, sweetie," Ranma demanded as she looked down on him with a smile that made Ryoga melt.

"Yes. The sound of your laughter was heaven. You were so sweat and wonderful. The aroma you gave off was breathtaking and your very essence rendered me happily helpless," Ryoga answered with a deep breath as his grey/brown eyes looked up at her.

It was Ranma's turn for her fair, apple blossom skin to go from milky white to pink then red upon hearing the boy's sweet words. Then she smiled and blushed, sighing happily as the object of her desire looked up at her in admiration.

"Something just occurred to me, Ranma."

"What's that, Ryoga?"

"You shouldn't play the innocent party so much when you tickled me sometimes too," the natural boy said with raised eyebrows.

"You were my pet rabbit at the time, and you were so cute when you giggled. You… Hehehehehehe! Oh, stop."

"You're cute when you're giggling too, Ranma. But why should I stop?" Ryoga's gentle fingers touched her ribs, working their way upwards.

"Aaah, ha ha ha ha ha! My body's more ticklish! Hahahahaha! Not that spot, please! Hehehehehe!" Ranma giggled, rolling around in the bed back and forth, her cheeks and under her eyes getting red as her arms moved to protect her more vulnerable areas.

"Say mercy, and be nice and sweet about too," Ryoga responded, his eyes poised on the girl with one eyebrow raised.

"All right, mercy pleeease!" Ranma giggled as she breathed out helplessly.

"You're so beautiful," Ryoga exclaimed as he reached over and pulled Ranma to himself, caressing her spine and working his way downwards. Then his mouth met hers in a kiss, prompting the half-naked girl to respond in kind, rubbing up against him. In a matter of seconds they had their hands all over each other. One thing led to another until…

All of a sudden, the door to the bedroom burst opened, seemingly by itself!

"What the…" the both of them turned towards the door with a sense of shock and terror, their eyes growing to the size of saucers until a young girl wearing a light blue robe appeared right in front of them, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Hi, everybody! Hate to interrupt, but I haven't seen anyone human for months now, and it's rather cold. Can I huddle up with you?"

To the surprise of Ranma and Ryoga, the short yet buxom young girl relieved herself of the robe, revealing that she was wearing only a bra and panties. Then she got into bed with them on Ryoga's left, opposite from Ranma with the boy being in between them.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I hope all of you are enjoying reading this. If you are let me know in a review.


	3. Arrival at Wall Maria

Attack on Ranma

Chapter Three

"_THOUGHTS"_

XXX

"Wait a minute. You look like me! Are you…" Ranma demanded.

"That's right, Ranma, I'm your younger sister. How have you been, Ranma, and who's this cute guy you're in bed with?" the shorter girl asked.

"This is Ryoga Yeager. Ryoga, this is my sister, Ranko. How were you able to sneak up on us so easily, Ranko?" Ranma asked.

"Well, as for sneaking up on you, the guy Grandpa left me with was Soun Tendo. He and his wife raised me as if I was his daughter along with his three other daughters. He also taught all of us the umisen…"

"The umisen?! That's a notoriously hard technique to master. It allows someone to become totally invisible and undetectable by any means."

"That's right. All of us learned it to some extent, but I was the best at it. I even was able to learn martial arts from Grandpa's student, Soun as well, but most of what I learned was from a lady ninja. She taught me so many useful techniques. She was really underrated as a sensei," the long, bright red haired girl with a curvaceous, busty physique explained in a matter of fact manner.

"Oh, I remember Soun Tendo and his daughters. What happened to them and how did you get here?" Ranma asked.

"Yawn. It's a long story, so I'll tell you all about it in the morning," Ranko explained as she began to drift off into sleep, her bosom cuddled up against Ryoga.

"You'll tell us right now!" Ranma shouted, breaking Ranko out of her drowsiness, prompting her to blink open her eyes awake.

"Well."

"You can explain with more details," Ranma demanded, narrowing her eyes at the younger girl.

"All right."

FLASHBACK

Upon the attack of a titan crushing their house, Ranko's adopted sisters found themselves on the verge of death. Ranko had barely avoided getting smashed as she was in an area of the home that was sturdier. As she stumbled out she saw a large, twenty-two foot giant looming over her.

However, as the titan reached out for her, her father appeared right behind him, leaping into the air and slicing its head off.

"Ranko, where are your sisters?!" Soun Tendo demanded.

"I-I think they're inside. Where's Mother?"

Soun ignored Ranko and rushed inside after clearing some debris. Then he found his daughters.

"Akane! Kasumi! Nabiki!"

Soun was a gasp when he saw the mangled bodies of his little girl sprawled on the ground under tons of debris.

"Oh, no!" Soun wailed, drowning the area with his tears.

"Ranko, come here!"

"Yes, Father?" the little girl answered as she made her way to her stepfather who took hold of her, giving her a fatherly hug.

"I don't know what to do about all this!" Soun wailed as he held her.

"Where's Mother?"

"She's dead too. I don't know where these oni have come from. But they've brought death and destruction to us all!"

FLASHBACK ENDED

"What happened after that?" Ranma broke in.

"Father told me to leave with the people getting on one of the ships headed out to sea. But he refused to leave with me himself. I think he did that because Mother had died during the initial giant assault when a large, flying rooftop smashed into her, pinning her down, allowing a giant to pull the debris off of her and eat her," Ranko related with a mild sob.

"What happened after that?" Ryoga asked in sympathy.

"After my father shoved me onto one of the crowded ships leaving Japan he went back into the city to fight the giants wearing his best samurai armor with his weapons in hand. Despite my father's fighting prowess, I saw him getting smashed into a building and fall to the ground as our ship left for the sea. I saw more and more samurai warriors die and get eaten by the giants as our ship got further and further away," Ranko related with a shudder.

"How did you get all the way out here?" Ranma asked, still a little perturbed that her moment with Ryoga had been ruined.

With her eyes closed and her face snuggled up against Ryoga's chest, Ranko continued her story.

FLASHBACK

The fleet of twelve ships took off into the ocean until they ran into a tsunami that spun a couple of the ships, picking them up and sending them smashing into the harsh ocean. While this happened the torrential tidal waves crashed into the other ships sending them off course. As the remaining ships tossed and turned, some of the screaming refugees on the overcrowded boats went falling into the water never to be seen again.

The ships were at sea for a couple more months, prompting the people on the ships to live on fish and stored water. Fortunately, someone on one of the ships had figured out a way to make sea water drinkable by boiling and straining the aroma and saltiness of the ocean out of it.

In few more days later, the limping ships drifted through a sea of reeds where there was land on either side of them, passing through the Red Sea.

Feeling that the worst was over, many of the refugees disembarked the ships in order to put their feet on dry land and look for food and water.

After Ranko had gotten back on the ship and given it a good Kasumi type cleaning, more titans appeared, smashing their way towards the passengers who couldn't make it back on the ships fast enough, having devoured them.

The survivors had barely made it out of there as some of the titans had waded in the water after them. Things had gotten so bad that one of the smaller titans had actually leaped onto one of the ships from the water and started eating some of the refugees there.

Eventually the remaining fleet of five ships escaped into the Suez Canal which led them into the Mediterranean Sea.

In a few days, a tailwind propelled the ships towards an intact port(modern day Istanbul), but they left in a hurry due to the sounds of titan's footfalls making their way towards them. They left with such speed they didn't turn around, floating towards a darker body of water, the Black Sea.

After going further north for a while, the ship crashed into the rocks, forcing everyone to disembark. Then more titans appeared, prompting the other ships to take off in terror for parts unknown. As the titans began to devour those of them who were left, Ranko willed herself to disappear and took off in a northern direction with giant footsteps behind her for a few minutes. Then the footfalls stopped. By the time it got dark, she had found an abandoned village.

The girl was so exhausted that she had become visible again. Then she realized how cold it was, but before the sun rose an old woman appeared out of nowhere a few feet in front of her.

"What are you doing here, child? You better follow me. I know somewhere safe from the titans which are everywhere," the old woman said to her.

The ancient woman was wrinkled with shoulder length, grey hair and fair skin, standing at four feet tall, wearing wool winter clothing.

"Who are you?" Ranko asked, regarding her.

"I'm a friend. We'll talk later, but we need to get away from here."

The girl eventually followed the old woman into what looked like an entrance to a cave which was actually a cavern that led to a place underground.

"I've lived out here for so long, I've forgotten my real name, but you may call me Uchitel. And what is your name, child?" the old woman asked her.

"My name is Ranko."

"It's nice to meet you, Ranko. Here is my home. There is a whole lot I need to teach you in order for you to survive out here. Come then. We can start your training right now."

FLASHBACK ENDED

"Over the years she taught me German, Russian, and a couple other languages of this continent. She also taught me her martial arts including unusual techniques like being able to use ki to fly and make a sword appear in my hands. She also helped me to improve on my umisen which allowed me to be totally invisible to the man-eating giants in the area. Despite how strong and skilled she was at fighting and a lot of other things, she was very old, so she passed away. She was so like a grandmother to me," Ranko sobbed.

"I'm so sorry," Ryoga said.

"She must have been a great martial artist. I've actually heard of the umisen, learning a little bit of it. What happened next?" Ranma interjected.

FLASHBACK

After Uchitel's death, Ranko had found a cemetery in which to bury her. Then the redheaded girl took to the skies with the winds tugging at her long, flowing hair as she flew over the area. In order to keep her skills sharp she would sometimes swoop down on a couple of oblivious titans, turning off her umisen in order to attack them, slicing through the napes of their necks with her light blade as her teacher had instructed her.

FLASHBACK ENDED

"In addition to all that, I've travelled through abandoned villages where I was able to survive. I had hoped to see someone who wasn't trying to make a meal out of me, so I kept moving north until I finally noticed you." That having been said, Ranko fell asleep on Ryoga's shoulders.

XXX

The next day, Ranko woke up in the morning to the sounds and smells of cooking. Rapidly turning her head back and forth, she realized she was all alone in the bedroom.

Upon taking off her bedclothes, Ranko exited the room and went to where she had placed her regular clothes and put them on including the shoes. Then she made her way to the kitchen.

"Good morning, sleepy head!" Ranma called out from the kitchen as Ranko appeared.

"Good morning. Let me help you," Ranko answered.

"All right, do you know how to cook?"

"I know how to cook, Ranma. I learned how to cook from Mother as well as Uchitel."

"That's good. Then you can help me with the meal. But if I see you doing something ridiculous, I'll stop you. We can't afford to get sick from bad cooking."

"I understand, Ranma. I know what I'm doing now. Both my sensei and my mother were good cooks, and now so am I."

Ranma turned towards Ranko as her sister helped her with the meal without making any kind of mistake.

"Are you referring to the woman who was married to Soun?"

"That's right. I know are real parents died a long time ago, but I don't know who the gorgeous guy we both slept with was. Oh, my!" Ranko gasped, putting her hand to her mouth.

"His name is Ryoga Yeager. He's the guy you had your hands all over. Why are you so shy all of a sudden?"

"I was just so happy to see another human being. I guess I was lonely too. I'm sorry to have encroached on you like that."

"That's all right, but can you really fly?" Ranma asked, surprised at Ranko's competent cooking skills.

"Yes, that old woman taught me a lot of useful things, but I probably wouldn't have been able to have learned something like that so quickly if the situation wasn't as dire as it was. And the fact that I had learned some ki related techniques previously helped me as well."

Ranma took a good look at the girl. "You do look lot like me. But you don't look Japanese anymore. You have a more western appearance."

"It's not just me. You don't look too Japanese either," Ranko replied.

"Yes, I suspect this has something to do with Jusenkyo making our looks universally appealing," Ranma said.

"Oh, Did Grandpa pour some strange water on you like he did me? Ever since that day, my body and martial arts skills developed faster."

"Grandpa poured Jusenkyo water on you too?" Ranma interjected.

"Is that what that was? I remember him telling me to make sure I grew and developed well so I could marry a prince. By the way, where did that gorgeous hunk go off to?" Ranko asked with a cute smile and a wry look in Ranma's direction.

"All right, just so you know, Ryoga and I have been together for a long time," Ranma explained, giving Ranko a sideward glance with her eyes narrowed.

"All right, but if you expect to keep a gorgeous hunk like that without any competition, you're crazy," Ranko said with a wry smile.

"And what competition would that be?" Ranma asked with her eyes narrowed in on her sister.

"Anyway, did you plan on staying here forever or is there someplace you plan to go to that isn't over run with man eating giants?"

"They're called titans actually. Ryoga knows of a three walled community that's fairly safe from the titans somewhere in Central Europe. It's a few hundred miles west from here. We'll have to make sure you know German by the time we get there. Verstehen sie?"

"Ja, ich verstehe," Ranko answered back.

"That old woman taught you German pretty well."

"That she did."

"Well, now you need to train in order to increase your fighting abilities. We have no idea when we'll have to face the titans again."

"I have been training, but if you think you can help me get better, that's just fine. But where's Ryoga?"

"After finding some free range chickens along with wild vegetables and fruit trees, he went back outside to go through the village in order to see what we can use on our journey to the walled country. He'll be back soon," Ranma answered.

"I'm home!" Ryoga announced as he entered the mansion with a couple of boxes.

"What'd you find, Ryoga?!" Ranma answered back.

"The people who lived here left this place in an orderly fashion."

"How do you know that?" Ranko asked.

"Good morning, Ranko. I hope you slept well."

"I slept just fine, Ryoga, but I'm curious as to how you know that the people here left in an orderly fashion."

"The few maps I've gotten have writings on them that show that the people here knew what they were doing. I think the snowstorm is going to clear up in a couple of days. When that happens, we'll need to leave for the walled cities and these maps here will direct us," Ryoga answered happily.

"That's great, Ryoga. Breakfast is almost ready."

"Great, I'll get cleaned up and help set the table."

XXX

After the snowstorm had ended a few days later and the sun shone brightly, melting the snow, the group made their way out of the mansion and village with each of them carrying a huge backpack of supplies and replenishments for the long trip ahead.

"It's a good thing you can fly, Ranko. That will make it easier for us to travel over the Carpathian Mountains with our supplies in tow."

"I'm happy that I'm not too much of a burden, but I don't think I have as much endurance as you do, so how much farther do we have to go?"

"About a hundred miles more until our next stopping point which is a town called Bratislava. If you get too tired let me know. We'll stop and rest."

"Thanks, Ryoga."

"Uh, oh, guys!"

"What is it, Ranma?" Ryoga asked.

"There are a whole bunch of titans down there. I don't know if they've seen us, but we better get going."

Ryoga utilized the binoculars around his neck and looked downward. "There are a lot of them. We need to speed up and be quiet about it."

"They're making their way up to the mountain tops. Some of them might be leapers!" Ranma shouted excitedly.

"Good point, Ranma. Can you fly higher, Ranko?"

"I can do it."

Then Ranma looked downward. Her eyes widening as an unusually large titan appeared seemingly out of nowhere upon a flash of lightning. Then it leaped up towards them from a particular high mountain. He was one fifty feet tall with prominent teeth and powerfully looking muscular arms and legs without any skin or hair. "Look out!"

"All right, you two fly on ahead. This titan's about to leap up towards us," Ryoga stated as he let the girls pass by him.

This particular titan reminded Ryoga of the titan that had breached Wall Maria a few years ago. The boy froze as vivid memories of what had happened that day flooded into his mind. The faces of his stepsister, cousin, and friend showed up in his mind's eye too. Then his mother's death happened!

"What are you going to do, Ryoga?!" Ranko called out as the brawny boy breathed in heavily and concentrated. Then he swung his ki hammer countless times in a rage and threw it into the head of the oncoming titan whose larger than life hand had reached out to take hold of him.

"AAAARRGGHH!"

Upon being struck in the forehead, the surprised titan was taken aback and went crashing to the ground. Both of the girls became surprised as well when another ki hammer appeared in the boy's hands. Then Ryoga used the new ki hammer to propel himself forward faster in order to catch up with them.

"Let's get out of here before any more titans show up," Ryoga said as all of them sped forward.

XXX

A few days later the group arrived under the cover of night and fog at a large, king sized castle in the center of a vacant village in Bratislava. Despite being happy to arrive at a relatively safe place, the group was put off by the sight of all of the destruction of the homes nearby.

The castle was made of grey stone with six by eight inch bricks, melded together. It was a massive rectangular building with four, 154 foot tall corner towers and a trap door in the center. The courtyard had a 260 deep water well that still had fresh water running through it.

"We'll be safe here where we can rest up for the night," Ryoga commented as they walked through the place, getting inside and putting their backpacks down.

"This place will work. There's even a flowing river nearby," Ranma announced as she breathed in the fresh, misty air.

"From what I remember, that's the Danube River. It flows all the way to the walled country. We must not be too far away from our destination."

"This place looks nice and cozy, but it's rather cold," Ranko commented, trying to warm herself by rubbing her shoulders.

"That's for the best. Since it's foggy and unclear, that minimizes the sunlight. Thus the titans are less likely to attack us here."

"I'd feel better if every door to this place was locked," Ranma replied as she flew upwards and hovered in the air for a few seconds, looking all around at all the doors and windows.

"How's your training coming along, Ranko? Will it be a problem if you have to fight one of those titans if it comes close?" Ryoga asked, giving the girl a glance.

"I've been fighting titans for a while from before I met you guys. And the training you and Ranma have been putting me through has made me tougher, quicker and stronger. I can handle things," Ranko answered, pointing her thumb to her face.

"That's good. While we're here, we can do some more training. How much further do we have before we get to the three walled country, Ryoga?" Ranma asked, turning towards the boy.

"At this point, we're a little more than three hundred miles from it. If everything goes well, that will be our next stop. But, we'll have to be careful. As many titans as we've seen up to this point, there will be a whole lot more of them the closer we get to our destination," Ryoga answered with a look of seriousness on his face.

"Then we better get in as much training in as we can."

XXX

A few days later after enjoying more home cooked meals than they normally enjoyed since there was a nice kitchen and other amenities, the group spent a lot of time training. After each of them had taken a nice, hot bath, the group went to bed for the night. The next day, the fog dissipated un-expectantly and the sun rose up brightly and early warming both outside and inside of the castle. As the group woke up, they were gripped with the vibrations of loud thumping noises.

"What the…"

"The titans are here!" Ryoga announced with a start, jumping off of his bed and bursting out of his room as Ranko and Ranma did likewise from their respective rooms.

"We'll have to do everything quickly. Then we'll have to fight our way out; I think we're surrounded," Ryoga replied as he noticed pounding coming from behind one of the locked wooden doors of the castle.

In a matter of seconds, everyone was dressed with their backpacks on since they had practiced this drill several times just for moments like these.

"We're ready!" the girls confirmed.

"Good. I better go out first. There's…"

All eyes turned to one of the ten foot doors, as a twelve foot titan smashed through it. After stooping under the doorway, the titan regarded its intended prey and charged!

"I got this!" Ranma announced as she flew into the creature with a powerful roundhouse kick to the chest that sent it sprawling back towards the doorway into the other titans behind it.

"Come on, Ranma let's go! We need to get to the top!" Ranko yelled.

"Right." Ranma quickly flew up to the rest of her group, catching up to them as they ran up the stairs.

"Do these titans have some ability to find people to eat? It sometimes seemed as if they were able to track me down until I turned on my umisen," Ranko said as the group kept moving.

"That may well be true, but we'll have to talk about it later. For the time being, we have to get to the roof!"

The group ran up the spiral stairs that went around the inside of the large castle. Everything was going along all right until they passed the fourth floor.

Before they got to the trapdoor on the roof, a giant fist that was bigger than all of them put together came crashing through a bolted wooden window and some of the wall on their left, prompting all of them to jump over the offending hand and continue making their way to the roof. However, before she left with the others Ranma turned around and used her wolverine fist to slice into the wrist of the titan causing it to bellow out in pain.

"As soon as we get outside, fly upwards. When we're clear of the titans we'll make our way west towards the walls!" Ryoga shouted as he looked over his shoulders at the girls behind him.

"Right, Ryoga!" both girls affirmed at once. Then Ryoga opened the roof door and shot upwards.

Upon leaving the roof with the others close behind him, Ryoga saw four, approximately fifty foot titans surrounding the large castle.

"Onward!" Ryoga ordered all of them into the sky.

As the group of travelers shot into the sky, the titans attacked the three of them who were back to back slicing off offending hands and fingers as they got higher and higher.

Ranma's ki claws slashed at an unearthly speed, slicing off a hand that had reached out to take hold of her, causing blood to splatter on her, turning into vapor as soon as it her.

At the same time, Ranko used her light saber to slice off the teeth of another titan who had craned his head in her direction to take a bite out of her.

"We're doing fine, everybody! Keep flying upwards. There's not too much more distance to cover!" Ryoga called out as he out maneuvered two titans who had reached for him at the same time, smashing their hands into each other as Ryoga dodged them.

Eventually the group got so high they got out of the reaching range of their would-be-predators.

"Whew! That was scary," Ranko said as they made their way westwards.

"Not really. I kind of thought we should have stuck around and killed those four titans. Who's to say they won't attack us again later?" Ranma asked.

"I understand the sentiment, Ranma, but there were other titans there. It's quite possible we could have been overwhelmed."

"So?! We could have taken them!"

"When we get to the walled country, we can work with the people there and make more precise plans to take the titans out. Until then we need to be careful. Trust me, Ranma. I know what I'm talking about," Ryoga said, calming the girl down.

In his past life, Ryoga had often taken on more numerous and powerful opponents. Fortunately, his stepsister had often come to his aid. However, when he was in the alternate universe, he was on his own for the most part. Despite his unusual fighting skills which were better than ninety-eight percent of the rest of that world, there were too many times when his underestimated opponents had defeated him.

"I get it, Ryoga. I just hate having to keep running away from these things when I know we can beat them."

"I'm sure there will be plenty of chances to fight titans with where we're going," Ryoga responded, giving Ranma calming look.

XXX

After looking at their maps and flying westwards, the group landed on a one hundred foot oak tree, sitting on one of the branches to rest. The wind blew the leaves around them, making the aroma of evergreen permeate all around them.

"There it is!" Ryoga shouted out happily as he looked through his binoculars.

"Let me see!" Ranma craned her neck forward, using her binoculars to see what was going on. Then she looked intently, noticing a huge hole in the outer wall through which a titan walked.

"Um, did you notice that huge hole, Ryoga?" Ranma asked, staring at the large opening.

The boy's eyes widened as he saw the titan walk right through the giant sized hole. "Oh, I remember now. That's where the Colossal Titan kicked a huge whole in Wall Maria. I vaguely remember everybody retreating to the inner walls."

"That's disconcerting," Ranko said, using her own binoculars to see what the others saw.

"It's all right, Ranko. There are other walls. I refuse to believe the titans have over run all of mankind," Ryoga consoled her.

"That's right, Ryoga. We've come too far to lose hope now," Ranma said as she regarded the situation.

Then they heard a scream.

"Aaarrggh!"

"Don't give up!" a powerful voice called out.

"But we're surrounded!"

The three jumped off of the tree and flew couple of miles towards the scream. After zooming through dozens of branches, they finally arrived at a clearing in the forest to see a couple blurs of green, moving around the area. Upon closer inspection, there were people wearing green capes, light grey pants, and brown jackets, being attacked by various titans, ranging from twenty to thirty feet tall. The largest one had the one who had screamed in his hand and was about to toss him into its mouth until its eyes turned towards an unusual sight.

"Kyiaaai!" Ranko screamed as she whooshed forward with her light saber at the ready, throwing it straight into the eyes of the titan as she practically remote controlled her ki blade, having it blind the creature. As the titan grasped at what was once its eyes, Ranko grabbed its victim, releasing him from the grip of the titan and took him aloft.

While this was going on Ryoga flew past several of the surprised, taller titans who stopped what they were doing to gape at him. Then Ryoga made his way behind a couple of them, slicing the back of the napes of their necks with the sharp edge his ki axe/hammer, sending them crashing to the ground in a smoldering heap. However, one of the larger titans moved faster than Ryoga had anticipated and struck him with a larger-than-life fist, slamming the young man several yards back into the midsection of an oak tree.

"Oof!" the brawny boy moaned as he shook his head, recovered, and made his way back towards the titan that had struck him, nailing him in the jaw with his thrown ki hammer, knocking him to the ground, prompting the remaining former captives who had escaped their giant captors to scatter out of the way. As the titan got up and quickly reached for him, Ryoga flew past the offending hand and cut the back of the titan's neck. Then Ryoga grabbed the smoking creature by his long hair and threw him into another oncoming titan that was running towards him. As the oncoming titan got to its feet, Ranko appeared behind it and sliced through the nape its neck, ending its existence.

At the same time, Ranma swooped down on the smaller titans like a dive bomber, attacking with her kuzuri fist. A couple of titans ignored their previous prey and moved in on Ranma who quickly spun around like a top with her ki claws stretched out. Thus the pigtailed girl barged her way through the titans, slicing and dicing until her claws found the napes of their necks, dropping them to the ground. And when another one attempted to grasp her, she grabbed the attacking hand first, executing a martial throw that sent the surprised titan to the ground. As it was getting up, Ranko appeared right behind it, striking the back of its neck with her light blade.

"What the… Who are you?!" one of the green caped warriors exclaimed as Ranma caught him before he hit the ground after being dropped by one of the dead titans who had held him in its grasp.

"Don't worry. I got yah," Ranma answered in German with a reassuring smile.

"You got me. Who's got you?!"

After all of the living victims were safe and sound, Ryoga looked around and noticed that there were smashed wagons and downed horses littered all over the place. At the same time, the people they had helped regarded their strangely garbed rescuers who wore archaic Russian clothes that consisted of a rubakha which was an almost white linen tunic with a plunging neckline and very long sleeves. A brown vest covered the entire tunic except for the middle of it while a sash made for a belt was tied around the waist. In addition to that they each wore khaki baggy pants and knee high dark brown boots.

"Is there anybody else besides you, or are you all that's left of humanity?" Ryoga asked solemnly.

A handsome, young man with wavy blond hair, some of which leaned over his forehead, walked over to them. He had a slender and wiry physique, standing at six feet, four inches tall. "Greetings, I'm Sergeant Roy Fokker. Thanks for saving our lives. There are more of us, but where did you come from?"

"We're from a land far, far away," Ranma answered wistfully

"I noticed there was a huge hole in the wall. Are you planning to plug it up somehow?" Ranko asked with an obvious sense of concern.

"You guys are from far away. A couple of years ago the Colossal Titan kicked that hole into Wall Maria allowing the other titans to walk into the Shiganshina District. Then an armored titan smashed its way through the next wall, forcing everyone to retreat into the second wall called Rose," Fokker answered.

"An armored titan?" Ryoga asked incredulously.

At that moment, a group of over a hundred horsemen and horse drawn wagons made their down the road. Upon noticing the group standing around with the smoldering carcasses of titans lying on the ground, a few of the horsemen who were dressed similarly to the green garbed men who had recently survived these titans made their way to them.

"What's going on here?! Why are all of you standing around like you're at a picnic?!" the lead horseman demanded harshly.

"Sir, we were almost eaten by these titans on the ground here when these three people showed up out of nowhere and slaughtered them before they could kill most of us," the sergeant answered with a salute that had his right hand in a fist over his heart while his left hand was behind him in a juxtaposed position.

"Is that so?" The lead horseman regarded Ryoga, Ranma, and Ranko shrewdly. He was of medium height with short blond hair, a scant mustache, and beard. Then he got off of his horse, walked over towards them, and began to sniff them.

"I told you it was a good idea to bathe while were in Bratislava," Ranma commented towards her comrades.

"Where are you guys from?"

Before Ranma and the others could answer, the sergeant turned towards his men's rescuers. "This is Squad Leader Mike Zacharius, he's one of the strongest warriors of humanity."

"Hi there, Mike. Where is everybody else? We've come a long way and would like to get settled in," Ranma answered rather informally.

"You haven't had a bath in three days," the squad leader said after he was done sniffing them.

"We try to bathe whenever we can. But it's not like we have too many chances to stay clean when we're on the road trying to avoid being a titan's lunch," Ranma answered.

Squad Leader Mike Zacharius gave Ranma a sharp look. "You have a mildly similar scent to Squad Leader, Major Hange."

"Who's that?" Ranma asked.

"I'm going to take you to Colonel Erwin, the commander of the Recon Corps. You can explain all the details about where you're from to him."

XXX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I want to thank all of you for reviewing and reading. Please let me know what you think of how this fanfic is going.

I also want to make the ranks in the military more clear. The reason I say this is because sometimes I've seen it where Levi is called a captain, sometimes he's called a corporal. In this fanfic, he's a captain. Here's a broad list of military ranks from top to bottom.

General

Colonel

Major

Captain

Lieutenant

Sergeant

Corporal

Private

XXX


	4. Three Whole Years?

Attack on Ranma

Chapter Four

"_THOUGHTS"_

XXX

Ryoga, Ranma, and Ranko sat at an oblong, mahogany table facing the leaders of the survey corps which included the survey corps commander, Colonel Erwin Smith, Major Zoe Hange, and Captains Levi Ackerman, Dita Ness, Mike Zacharius, Diego Conde from the Spanish contingent, and the newly promoted Captain Roy Fokker whose captain and lieutenant had met death at the hands the titans before Ryoga and the Saotome sisters were able to rescue him and his men. All of these officers wore the survey corps capes and uniforms along with their insignias of rank.

The pristinely cleaned room was inside a wooden building made of logs on the outside. Even the seats were made of finely finished wood.

The high ranking members of the Reconnaissance Corps regarded the strangely garbed travelers, sizing each of them up.

Ryoga Yeager was a stunningly handsome, young man with a lightly tanned complexion, a nice, rounded face and baby blue eyes. His hair was jet black, with his bangs falling naturally into a middle-parted curtain-type style with a bandana over his forehead. He had a brawny build, being six feet two inches tall weighing 225 pounds of well-defined muscle.

Ranko Saotome was a beautifully sexy, strong limbed young girl with a curvaceously busty physique that stood at attention as she leaned backwards in her seat and clasped her hands behind her head. When she stood, her height was a statuesque five feet four inches while her weight was a moderately muscular 120 pounds with long, bright red hair that went a few inches below her shoulders.

The enchantingly gorgeous Ranma Saotome stood at five feet eight inches tall with a muscular yet well-endowed physique, ice blue eyes, powerful limbs, and dark red hair done up in a thick pigtail that went half way down her back, weighing 140 pounds.

After Ryoga and the girls had explained everything to the higher ranking members of the survey scouts who they were and what had happened to them since leaving China until they had rescued the survey scouts from the titans that had almost devoured them, the commander spoke up.

Colonel Erwin Smith had a commanding presence, being a well built, handsome man standing at six feet two inches tall with his blond hair kept neatly parted on the left side. He had a calm, collected expression on his face as his eyebrows were noticeably thick and bushy. Thus his icy-blue eyes regarded the newcomers shrewdly before making his decision.

"I knew there were some people here who came all the way from Asia, but I'm surprised that anyone was still alive outside of the walls all this time. At any rate, warriors with your skills would be very useful. Despite the fact that the government doesn't like newcomers, I'm going to furbish you with backstories that will allow you to join the military and go through boot camp for more training," the commander said stoically.

"All right," Ryoga complied.

Neither Ryoga nor Ranma had said anything about him being a rabbit. Nor did Ryoga say anything about him being transported into another universe. He simply allowed Erwin to think he had lived in Asia for the whole time even though he looked no different from the people observing them, resembling a European as opposed to being Japanese.

"Why do we need to go through more training? We've been fighting titans for months now!" Ranma stated hotly.

Then Ryoga turned towards the fiery redhead. "We need to learn how the people around here do things, so we can work better with them, Ranma."

"That's right," Erwin answered, giving Ranma a sharp look.

"Anyway, I was wondering about something."

"What is it, Colonel Erwin?" Ryoga asked.

"Captain Fokker's report stated that when one of the larger titans struck you and knocked you into a tree that you were hardly hurt. Is that true?"

"It did hurt, but I'm not injured," Ryoga answered.

"How is that?"

"That's due to years of rigorous martial arts training," Ryoga answered respectfully.

"Is that so? I think all of your abilities are over rated," Captain Levi Ackerman interjected with his arms folded on his chest.

Ryoga had a disappointed look on his face as he regarded the harsh words of the man who had once been his childhood hero.

Levi Ackerman stood at five feet four inches tall with short, straight black hair styled in an undercut and sharp, intimidating grey eyes. He had a physique that was well-developed and heavy with muscle, belying his rather short stature while the slight furrow beneath his eyes was at odds with his otherwise youthful appearance. Aside from his constant frown, his expression was calm along with an unflappable demeanor that often made it difficult to guess what he was thinking.

"What are you talking about? Hasn't Captain Fokker told you what we did to those titans who were about to make a meal out of your comrades? What more do we have to do to earn respect around here?" Ranko said as she sharply turned towards the diminutive captain.

"I couldn't have said that better myself, Ranko," Ranma agreed.

"Don't be offended with Captain Levi. He's not as harsh as he seems. He's humanity's strongest soldier so he has a lot to live up to," Captain Dita Ness said with a welcoming aura around him.

Dita Ness was a man of average height and build with a scant mustache and beard. He also sported a white bandana that he wore around his balding head which showed light brown hair along the sides and back.

Erwin regarded Ryoga shrewdly for a moment. Then he confronted him.

"You were born within the walls, weren't you?"

"Um…" Ryoga stammered.

"I can tell these things. How did you manage to live outside these walls all this time? Have you even given me your real names?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Ryoga responded.

"Try me."

"My previous name was Eren Yeager. When my mother died at the hands of a titan, a family friend took hold of me and ran to safety. But I broke free of his hold and ran back to my home that was wrecked. I eventually ran into my father's lab where I smashed into something that exploded, sending me far away. The people I met there decided to call me Ryoga thus the name stuck. Then I lived out in wastelands and deserts until I met up with Ranma. You know the rest."

"I see. I still think you're holding something back, but for the most part you're telling the truth," the commander said, deciding to be satisfied with what he had heard.

"How many titans have you seen during your travels?!" Major Zoe Hange broke in excitedly.

Zoe was a tall woman with long brown hair with much of it done up in a bun on the top of her head while she wore a pair of small eyeglasses.

"We've killed several, but I've lost count as to how many," Ryoga answered.

"Did it ever occur to you to capture one of them alive?"

"No, but during our fights with titans, I've knocked a couple of them out with my ki hammer," Ryoga replied.

"Really?!" Hange asked excitedly.

"Yes."

"Oh, that's great. That means you can…"

"That's another thing I want to talk about. When you're training in boot camp, keep your ki abilities as you call them a secret. The government here hates new technology of any kind," Erwin said.

"And the last thing you want is for the government to think you have some new technological device that's beyond what they want anyone to have. Simply learn how to use the three dimensional maneuvering equipment while you're there."

"What's that?" Ranma asked.

"You'll find out during boot camp," Erwin explained.

"All right, we understand," Ryoga answered.

Erwin regarded Ryoga shrewdly again, noticing he had that look within his eyes that showed he had been through unknown hardships. Even Ranma and Ranko had gone through terror of some kind as well, but they seemed to lack the maturity Ryoga had.

"You're obviously more aware of what's going on around here than your two friends, Ryoga. And it's obvious your strength is the greatest of the three. I would like for you to stay here with the Reconnaissance Corp. We can train you ourselves more quickly while you share with us some of your skills and help us against the titans we face."

"All right. If that's what's best," Ryoga answered.

Ryoga was rather surprised he was being let in the Survey Corps so quickly. He had thought he'd never get to join the scouts, and here he was.

"How long will Ranma and I be training at this boot camp?" Ranko asked impatiently.

"Boot camp takes three years."

"Three years?!" Ranma spat out. "Are the titans out there gonna just sit around waiting for three years while Ranko and I are cooped up at this boot camp?"

At that point, Levi broke in. "We've been fighting titans for years before you got here, you brat. We'll survive another three years."

"We'll both be as old as sixteen and seventeen by the time we're finished," Ranko said calmly.

"Hopefully, you'll have grown up by then," Levi replied sharply.

"In addition to that, you two need the discipline you'll get from being in a boot camp setting. You need to bathe more often too," the sniffing Captain Mike Zacharius interjected.

"What?! We did our best to bathe whenever we could! Isn't that right, Ranko?!" Ranma yelled out.

"That's right, Ranma. We…"

"Despite being as over rated as he is, Ryoga at least knows when to keep his mouth shut while you two little girls keep prattling on like a couple of hens. I wouldn't mind putting you in your place myself, but I'll leave that to Commandant Shadis," Captain Levi interjected, giving them an intimidating glare that had no effect on the girls who simply glared back.

"Little girls?! Why we're taller than you are!" Ranma snapped back, pounding the table in front of her.

"When you two girls finish boot camp, join up with the Reconnaissance Corp of which I'm the commander. Then you'll have more freedom to engage in your unusual abilities out here in the open. Before you do go, I'd like you to write down how you do some of the things you do on paper."

"I don't think that would help too much, Commander Erwin" Ranko answered softly.

"Do the best you can with that. I'd also like you to show a friend of mine what you can do, so he can possibly recreate the effects. That will be all," Erwin said, ending the meeting.

After Ryoga and the girls had left, another man walked into the room from another door. He was tall, imposing, and bald with a small goatee on his chin.

"Did you get all of that, Keith?" Commander Erwin asked as he looked over his shoulder.

"Yes. Ryoga doesn't need to go through boot camp much like Levi didn't need to, but as for those two immature girls, it will take a lot of work getting their attitudes in line," Commandant Keith Shadis answered stoically as he stared after the girls walking away.

XXX

"I can't believe this is going to take three whole years, three whole years!" Ranma complained as she faced Ryoga before she was about to enter the boot camp area dressed in a white shirt, a beige jacket, and grey pants along with Ranko who was dressed the same way.

"I'm afraid that's the case, Ranma," Ryoga answered as he embraced her.

"None of the armies of Japan ever took that long to train. They were through with new recruits in a matter of months, sometimes faster than that!"

"I don't like it any more than you do, Ranma, but that's what we'll have to do. We can look at it as training," Ryoga answered.

"I can endure the training, but the worst part about it is being away from you so long, Ryoga," Ranma said with a sense of sadness as she held on to him.

"I believe they'll let me visit you during that time, Ranma, but until then…"

Out of nowhere, Ranma leaped up and gave him a sensuous kiss, caressing his back as she rubbed up against him.

"Now, you'll have something to remember me by. Feel free to dream about me as much as you want," Ranma breathed hotly as her buoyant bosom heaved in the boy's direction.

"Sigh. I won't forget you, Ranma, but pay attention to what your trainers try to teach you. The sooner we all learn how to do the things we need to do around here, the sooner we can take the fight to the titans and free this world from their tyranny."

"I agree with that, Ryoga," Ranma said as she held on to him while Ranko looked on. Then she noticed Ranko regarding them.

"What?"

"I hope I can find someone to love the way you have, Ranma."

"You'll find someone, Ranko. There are plenty of boys around here," Ranma answered.

"I'm sure the both of you will do well, Ranko," Ryoga stated.

"All right, it's time for you two little girls to get moving," Levi demanded to the consternation of the teenagers. Then he turned towards Ryoga.

"And don't think things will be easy for you either, big fella. You may wish you were in boot camp with these girls by the time I'm through with you."

Ryoga calmly looked down and regarded the smaller, intimidating man without flinching. "There's nothing you can put me through that is more brutal than all the horrors I've suffered along with the martial arts training and fights I've endured."

"Way to go, Ryoga!" Ranma cheered as Ranko joined in.

"You two little girls get out of here and get inside that training camp!" Levi ordered in a cold rage. The girls regarded the survey scout for a moment, did an about face, and made their way into the camp with a confident switch of their hips that the guard at the gate happily noticed.

As soon as the girls had passed through the gate of the camp, the guard there shut said gate. After that, he saluted Levi who returned the salute. Then the soldier walked a few feet away from the gate to his post inside the camp.

"Come on. We're going back to our base," Levi ordered, taking Ryoga by the collar of his uniform which was similar to what Ranko and Ranma were wearing.

XXX

The next day, Ranko and Ranma stood at attention with their hands folded behind their backs along with dozens of other cadets in the morning sun, being composed of fifteen rows with the commandant standing in front of them. The dirt ground on which they stood was a fortified valley that was surrounded by several houses, towers, and military equipment.

"Straighten those spines, pissants! The 104th cadet boot camp starts now! Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Commandant Keith Shadis and you will grow to hate me! Your training will be harsh and brutal! After I'm through with you you'll be waking up in a cold sweat with the memory of this place for the rest of your lives! Right now you're nothing! But over the next three, soul crushing years you'll learn to take on your own fears! Remember this day when you come face to face with death! That's when you'll ask yourself am I a fighter or am I food for the titans?! Am I going to be ground into meat by teeth or am I going to be the one to bite?!"

The commandant looked around at the sea of people. Then he made his way through the ranks.

"Hey, mop top!"

"Sir!" the recruit snapped with a salute that had his right hand in a fist over his heart while his left hand was behind him in a juxtaposed position.

"What do they call you, maggot?!"

"Armin Bateman from the Shiganshina District, sir!"

"How did you get such a stupid name?!"

"I got it from my grandfather, sir!"

"Why is a little guy like you even here?!"

"I'm here to help humanity against the titans, sir!" Armin yelled out nervously with his eyes closed.

"That's nice to hear. You'll make a nice snack for them."

Armin Bateman was a gorgeously attractive, petite, young boy with medium length, blond hair, a round face, and prominent, ice blue eyes, standing at five feet six inches tall weighing 135 pounds. He had a soft hearted mien to himself that Ranko raptly noticed.

"_He's so cuuute!"_ Ranko thought to herself as Shadis grabbed the boy by the head and turned him around for everyone to see.

As Ranko kept her eyes on Armin who was a couple of rows ahead of her, the drill instructor denigrated some of the other recruits. Then she began indulging in fantasies of them being married with children in a nice home outside the walls after the titans had been defeated. _"Sigh!"_

Keith Shadis had passed over many of the recruits because he perceived correctly that they had endured more terror than he was capable of instilling in them, having seen the titans up close when they had smashed through Wall Maria, the outer most wall. Then he noticed Ranma and Ranko. Both of these girls had endured horrors of their own, but they were different from the others who had endured the titans. These two seemed to have actually gotten over what had happened to them. Shadis had already recognized that they were much better trained with more confidence than anybody else there. However, the problem with them was that each of them thought she really didn't need to be there. Well, he would fix that!

"Hey, you, redhead!"

"Sir!" Ranma and Ranko answered at the same time with a crisp salute.

"I'm talking to you tall, dark, and red!" Shadis said to Ranma staring into her eyes seemingly in a rage.

"Sir!" Ranma snapped.

"Who are you?!"

"I'm Ranma Sautorme!"

"Where are you from?!"

"The Karanese District, sir!" Ranma answered in accordance with the backstory Commander Erwin had provided for her.

"That place was out in the boondocks. Did you see any titans?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Did you fight any of them?!"

"Yes, sir!" Ranma answered, surprising everyone there except for Ranko and the drill instructor.

"I don't believe you. A hot piece of ass like you would have hid behind your boyfriend while he did all of the fighting!"

"No, sir!"

"Where is your boyfriend? I bet you ran away screaming like a little girl while your boyfriend tried to fight the titans and got himself eaten. Ain't that right?"

"No, sir! My boyfriend is alive and well in the Survey Corps! And I've both fought and killed titans myself, sir!" Ranma answered proudly.

"So you think, you're hot stuff, don't you?"

"Yes, sir, I do!" Upon giving that quick response, Ranma realized she had given the wrong answer as everyone's eyes turned towards her as if she had grown another head.

"Is that so?! About face!" Shadis turned Ranma around so more of the people there could see her.

"This little girl thinks she can take on the titans all by herself while standing behind her boyfriend!" Shadis announced to everybody there.

"I…"

"Shut up! If you think you're so tough as to be able to defeat the titans just because you have a strong boyfriend who likes your hot little derriere and great rack, you have another thing coming. You're gonna have to stand on your own two feet if you want to make it around here, sweet cheeks!"

"I…"

"You got that, redhead?!"

"Yes, sir!" Ranma stiffened up, trying her hardest to hide her anger and failing miserably.

Then Shadis made his way to Ranko who saluted as soon as he appeared in front of her. "So what do we have here? Are you also from the Karanese District?"

"Yes, sir!"

"And what's your name?"

"Ranko Tendeau, sir!" Ranko answered in accordance with the new name, Colonel Erwin had given her.

The commandant shot a look at Ranma. Then he turned back towards Ranko. "So you two girls are related?"

"That's right, sir! We…"

"I didn't ask for details!"

The commandant regarded the sexy, curvaceous buxom physique and the obvious confidence Ranko exuded for a moment with a cold hard stare. "Frankly, I don't recall the girls from that area being such whores. Are you going to be able to go without a man long enough to finish this training?"

"Huh?!" Ranko answered angrily.

"You heard me, bitch! And what's this?!" Shadis held up a small, hand-sized package in front of both Ranma and Ranko who both immediately recognized it for what it was.

"Hey, you went into our private stuff!" Ranko shouted.

"Shut up, bitch. You don't have any privacy in my training camp! Now why don't you explain in detail what this is for?"

"If you must know it's so that people can have sex without the girl getting pregnant!" Ranko answered in a huff.

"Oh, really? You seem to know a lot about things of such a nature," the commandant said sarcastically.

"Well I…"

"Never mind that! What's that on your mouth? Have you been drooling all over yourself?! Maybe you're recalling seeing one of those naked titans and getting turned on. Is that what you're thinking about?" the commandant demanded with a wry look on his face.

"Grrrr! No, that's not true!" Ranko's fists began to glow. Then Ranma noticed Ranko's ki blade appearing for a moment out of the fist of her left hand behind her back.

"It looks like it. What's wrong with you?!"

"I'm just hungry, sir!" Ranko answered, finally calming herself down and making her ki blade disappear.

"Is that so?! It seems as if you two can't keep your minds off of sex since you've obviously come prepared. What's the matter? You don't want to procreate with anyone? Maybe you should be unisexual. I wonder what gave you that idea."

"Maybe it was your wife, sir," Ranma answered with a smirk as Ranko broke out giggling. Eventually many of the other cadets began to laugh. At that point, the commandant's eyes bulged in a rage. He was about to say something else when his eyes moved towards his left and noticed another girl in the ranks two rows behind them eating a potato.

XXX

Later that day, several of the cadets were watching from the porch of the barracks as three girls jogged around the base.

"I thought Shadis was going to kill Potato Girl," a cadet commented.

"Yeah. Being told to run around the base until the sun went down didn't bother her near as much as missing meal privileges for the day. Those two girls from Karanese didn't seem bothered with their punishment at all," another commented.

"I was more certain that those two from the Karanese District were going to get boiled in oil," another cadet commented.

"I hope not. Those girls are smoking hot! I'm surprised each of them didn't go off and marry a rich guy and live in the interior," another cadet interjected

"Well, I'm surprised they'd even have the nerve to mouth off like that," Mikasa Ackerman said in reply.

Mikasa was physically fit with sinewy muscles and chin-length black hair as she stood at five feet eight inches tall weighing 150 pounds. In addition to that, she was of mixed Asian heritage with fair skin and calm, black eyes that helped to make her attractive.

"That's true, but those two are the strongest cadets here. Even stronger than you, Mikasa," Armin replied.

"I find that hard to believe," Mikasa replied.

"It's true. Look at how they're running. They move with grace and finesse, in total control of their movements. The commandant saw this too. Why else would he have verbally abused them in the manner he did? They weren't the least bit afraid of him or anyone else. I find it easy to believe either one of them could stand up to a titan without flinching," Armin commented.

At that point, Eren's cousin, Johnny Sako, made his way to either side of them. "Wow! You're so right, Armin!"

The lively boy had a cute, rounded face and a full, thick head of hair that was combed to the side. He stood at five feet six inches tall weighing 140 pounds. His large black eyes looked upon the three running girls, paying more attention to the redheads.

"Hmm." Mikasa regarded the girls who ran, noticing what Armin had stated.

Mikasa was heartbroken after Eren had broken the hold of the man who had carried them off to safety. With an increase of spirit induced strength Eren had made his way back to his home and vanished in the explosion of his father's lab after his mother had met death at the hands of a titan.

In addition to the outer wall of the Shiganshina District which jutted out from Wall Maria being breached, another titan made of armor had appeared and smashed through adjoining Wall Maria, allowing more titans to make their way through, prompting everyone who lived within Wall Maria to evacuate into the safety of Wall Rose, the next inner wall.

Since there wasn't enough food for all of the people living within Wall Rose and the flood of new refugees, the leaders of the country had decided to send the ones old enough to serve in the military back into the newly titan infested territory in order to supposedly take back land from the them.

The plan to retake Wall Maria culminated in the death of over 200,000 of the refugees despite the fact that many of them were trained and supplied with new weaponry. It was so bad that less than two hundred made it back. While their deaths did nothing to drive back the titans, their sacrifices did much to minimize the famine in the interior.

However, there was another silver lining in that dark cloud. The weaknesses of the titans had been figured out, giving mankind a smidgeon of hope.

During this time, Mikasa along with Armin and Johnny whose parents had also died in the bid to retake Wall Maria had stayed together through it all with Armin doing his best to console his friends. Eventually Armin decided to join the military so as not to feel weak and defenseless. He also wanted to change what was going on with the apparent corruption of the governing powers from the inside. What he said was so convincing that Mikasa and Johnny had decided to join up as well.

However, before they joined the military, Johnny had a strange dream or did he?

FLASHBACK

"Uncle Grisha, where are we?"

"Johnny, give me your arm!" the bespectacled middle aged man demanded as he took hold of him.

"What are you doing?! You're acting crazy!"

"You'll understand later! Just do what I tell you to do right now!" Grisha said as he used a syringe and injected something into the boy.

"Oh, no! What are you doing?! Ooowwww! Aaaaaaagghh!"

FLASHBACK ENDED

"Maybe it was just me, but did you see a blade appear in one of those girl's hands?" a cadet asked no one in particular.

"Yeah, I thought I saw something too until it just vanished into thin air," another cadet commented."

"That can't be true. You guys are dreaming."

During this time, Ranma and Ranko continued to run along with Sasha Blouse, the girl who had eaten the potato during drill. Sasha was a moderately attractive, tall, slender girl whose hair was done in one long ponytail behind her back with a huge appetite. Her stomach growled audibly as she continued to run herself ragged, surprised that the other two girls who simply kept up with her weren't the least bit tired.

"Well, that was interesting. This day has been full of surprises," Ranko said in Japanese.

"Don't worry about it, Ranko. That guy knows we're the best people here, so he's going out of his way to put us down."

"But now everybody thinks we're a couple of loose girls! How will I be able to get a serious boyfriend now?" Ranko replied.

"We can't help what people think when we weren't allowed to explain to everyone that we got those contraceptives and much of the other things we got from those eastern cities. We sometimes had to cut and run, so we simply grabbed whatever looked useful and put them in our backpacks. It took us some time to figure out what those packages really were. And by the time we did we were practically here."

"It would be pointless trying to explain anything to our comrades now," Ranko commented in a matter of fact manner.

"What were you thinking about anyway?" Ranma asked.

"Huh, what do yah mean?"

"I'm talking about when you were drooling all over yourself."

"Oh, that. Well I…"

"Was it that cute blond from the Shiganshina district? What was his name again? Armin Bateman, right?"

"Yes, that's right. There's no need to put him down just because he's not as big and strong as Ryoga, Ranma. Besides, since he's fairly young with enough strength and martial arts training he can become bigger," Ranko replied as she looked over the horizon.

"Relax, Ranko. I'm just happy to see you've found someone."

"What are you two talking about?!" Sasha asked after having turned her head from one to the other.

"Sorry about that, Sasha," Ranma replied. "Ranko and I were just babbling about unimportant matters."

The nearly exhausted girl looked downward at her feet which pounded the ground. Then she noticed that Ranko and Ranma weren't leaving any foot prints. "How come you two aren't the least bit tired? It's like you're light on your feet."

"We're both in phenomenal shape." As Sasha began to stagger, both Ranma and Ranko took hold of either side of her and held her up.

Both Ranma and Ranko had learned how to lower their endurance usage and conserve energy, allowing them to train and fight for a longer time.

"You girls are upset over missing lunch and dinner, aren't you? Aren't you hungry?" Sasha asked as she caught her breath.

"Both of us have had to go without food for days at a time. However, I bet Ranma has figured out some way to make up for it," Ranko said as she gave Ranma a sideward glance and a wry smile

"I sure have."

"And exactly what would that be?"

Then Ranma switched over to Japanese. "Haven't you figured out how to extend the range of your umisen?"

"Yes, that's right. While Uchitel trained me in her martial arts, she extended her umisen to me so that the titans couldn't detect my presence. She did that for me until I could do it for myself. What about it?" Ranko replied, giving Ranma a quizzical look.

"Well, I've increased the umisen skills you've taught me as well. If I stay close enough to you while you extend your umisen range…"

"I get it. You'll be as good as being invisible as well. Why would we need to do something like that?" Ranko asked.

"I don't know about you, but I'm not so fond of bread and soup. And I know for a fact that there's much better food left outside of Wall Rose from when the Colossal Titan kicked down that huge hole in Wall Maria to allow the other titans inside. If we can sneak out of here, we can grab some better food. The livestock out there is plenteous as well."

"And when would we have the time to cook the food and livestock we find with all the training we have to do?" Ranko asked.

"What are you two talking about?! Huff!" Sasha demanded to no avail as the two kept on with their conversation.

"I've talked with the head chef who has a hard time finding the ingredients she needs to give us a more varied diet." Ranma explained.

"And?"

"She told me if I could bring her the ingredients she wants, she would feed us better food. She's already given me a map as to where much of the abandoned food is located. There are even fruit trees and unpicked vegetables growing all over the place. Don't get me started on the chickens that have become free range chickens. Then there are all the abandoned storage houses of sugar, rice, wheat, and barley out there. The titans have no appetite for anything but people, so there's a lot of preserved food out there for the taking," Ranma explained.

"That's a huge risk to take, Ranma. After avoiding all the titans in the area, where exactly are we supposed to leave all of that stuff?"

"There's a barn and a pantry on this base. We can leave the livestock and other stuff in those places. We might even be able to find Espresso coffee."

"I don't know, Ranma."

"I heard you say Espresso! What I wouldn't do for some nice doughnuts and Espresso coffee," Sasha broke in salivating with her mouth wide open.

"We should wait until the day's events have blown over before we go out on any adventures. Sheesh we just got here," Ranko answered.

"Do you actually like eating nothing but bread and soup after the much better food we had on our trip here? If we volunteer for KP duty, the chef will give us enough time to go and get the ingredients she normally can't get her hands on," Ranma replied.

"Hmm. All right, Ranma. Let's go talk to the chef after we're through running," Ranko answered as she got a hungry reminder from her stomach.

"I can't take this anymore!" Sasha moaned. She would have collapsed to the ground in exhaustion except for the fact that Ranko and Ranma were holding her up.

"The sun's almost down, Sasha. You'll make it. Just a little bit longer," Ranma encouraged.

"I need food badly!"

As soon as the sun had went down the two girls took hold of Sasha and found a place to sit down on the porch.

A few minutes later, a young, beautiful girl with shoulder length blond hair and a wondrous aura around her walked towards them from the darkness with three, hand sized loaves of bread and a large cask of water in her hands.

Even though the Sasha's energy was maxed out, her nose began to twitch. Then she got up with roar, leaping towards the girl like a bobcat and bowling her over, grabbing the bread, and devouring it as if she was a lioness tearing apart its prey.

"Hmm. And here I thought she was exhausted," Ranma chuckled.

"Hey, I brought a loaf of bread for each of you!" the beautiful, kindhearted girl said, trying to keep the other two pieces of bread away from the ravenous girl in vain.

"And anyway, you really ought to drink some water first," the petite girl admonished.

After finishing off the bread, Sasha gulped down the water. Then she gratefully took hold of the girl. "You are such a wonderful person. Thank you so much!"

"What's going on here, Krista?" another girl called out from the darkness as she made her way into the moonlight.

"Ymir, these girls hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, so I decided bring them something," Krista answered, looking up with her light blue eyes.

Ymir was tall with a broad shouldered physique, strong limbs, and jet black hair done up in a long, thick ponytail behind her back. "I thought there were two others suffering punishment along with Potato Girl."

"Are you speaking about us? We're right here," Ranma answered with Ranko right behind her.

"I'm sorry Potato Girl ate all the bread I brought," Krista Lenz said gently.

"That's all right. What do you think about what we were talking about earlier, Ranko?"

"Let's go talk to that person and see about that job what she wants done." With that, the two girls did an about face and left, leaving Sasha to collapse and fall blissfully asleep on Krista's lap.

While this was going on two other cadets hid in the shadows, watching the events.

"Where are those girls are going, Jackie?" a moderately busty thirteen year old girl said to her fraternal twin brother.

"I don't know, Fannie. But I knew those two were martial artists when I saw them run with finesse and well-honed control over their bodies. Let's follow them and find out. It will be fun trailing them."

Jackie Leon was an attractive, moderately tanned boy with shoulder length, light brown hair and broad shoulders while his cute, fair skinned sister, Fannie, had long, thick dark brown hair tied up in two huge ponytails behind her back. Both of them walked with grace and finesse as they made their way back into the darkness. The five feet two inches tall kids from the Spanish contingent followed after them, blending in the shadows.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Hope you liked the story. Please send a review as to how you liked it.


	5. Over the Walls and Through the Woods

Attack on Ranma

Chapter Five

"_THOUGHTS"_

XXX

Upon Ranko and Ranma's arrival at the camp's kitchen one of the sous chefs recognized Ranma and allowed them inside.

"I'll tell Chef Celine you're here," Hanz said as he walked away. Hanz had short cropped, sandy blond hair with an average sized build.

A few minutes later, Celine Yount appeared in front of them. She was five feet six inches tall weighing 135 pounds. Her beautiful, brown hair was made of long tresses, luscious, and full. After her brown eyes had regarded them, the voluptuous woman spoke.

"Is this your friend, Ranma?"

"This is her, Chef. Ranko, this is Chef Celine Yount."

"Hi."

"I understand the two of you are capable of getting me better ingredients," the French-Chinese style chef said to them, getting to the point.

"That's right."

"You're not afraid of the titans in the area, Ranma?"

"No, not really, but it's best if Ranko and I work at night when the titans are less active. However, the biggest problem is avoiding getting caught by the guards here when we bring the livestock and goods into the barn and pantry. We also need to have someone here to help us put everything where it needs to be."

At that point, the other sous chef, Greta, showed up along with Hanz. Greta had blond hair done up in a ponytail on each side of her head while being a slender, young girl with strong Nordic features and a slender physique.

"Hanz and Greta will help you with that. How about you two go right now? If anybody asks about you, I'll say you were working for me," Celine requested as Ranko and Ranma looked at each other.

"All right, we'll do it," Ranko confirmed.

XXX

"Here it is, Ranko," Ranma said as the girls touched down, carrying a large empty cart near several abandoned factories outside of Wall Rose within Wall Maria which the titans had long since breached, using their umisen to make themselves invisible.

"Let's move quickly, Ranma. There so many components we need to get, and I would like to get some beauty sleep before the next day."

In a matter of several minutes, the girls' fast moving feet zipped through the factories while their hard working hands grabbed several sealed packaged bags of sugar, flour, dry rice, coffee beans, salt, spices, and other ingredients placing them in the cart.

"All right, we're full. Let's go back."

Ranma took hold of the front end of the cart from her back while Ranko grabbed the other end from her front. Then they flew upwards.

As the two made their way back to Wall Rose they passed by a fifty foot titan with broad shoulders, large eyes, sharp teeth, and medium length black hair. It saw what looked like a cart floating through the air by itself, thus it blinked its eyes for a moment and just stared as it passed by.

"Whew. That was close. Your umisen has gotten better, Ranma, but keep it on. There may be other titans around here."

Right, Ranko. We're almost near Wall Rose where the camp is."

"We'll need to stay in the shadows to make sure the guards don't see the cart," Ranko whispered.

After making sure the coast was clear, the girls touched down near the exit of the kitchen. Then they gently knocked on the door which quickly opened.

"I don't believe it! You're back, and you actually have maple syrup!" Greta happily breathed in. At the same time, Hanz made his way towards them, his formerly drowsy eyes widening in surprise upon taking notice of what the girls had brought.

"All right. We'll haul this stuff in. Here's another empty cart for you guys. This will be for the livestock. Try to bring in a milk cow if you can," Greta requested as she and Hanz barked orders at the other chefs who had slept near the kitchen in order to help bring the goods in.

"We'll try." The cadets whistled as they regarded the larger than life cart that was as big as two horse drawn carriages.

"Will there be enough room inside the barn for what we put in this thing?"

"Don't worry about the barn. There's plenty of room there right now. Just fill this cart up with as much livestock as you can carry," Hanz answered.

XXX

Ranko and Ranma again flew over several fields noticing only a couple of titans stumbling their way around in the dark. Then the girls saw cattle and chickens running around in and outside the barns there.

After inspecting the area for a couple of minutes, the girls figured out how they were going to pack everything into the cart.

"In addition to the various livestock around here, there's chicken feed and hay in some of these barns. There's even a milk cow over there with a suckling calf attached to it"

"Yes, we'll have to bring both the cow and the calf with us. Let's get to work," Ranko responded.

After an hour of leading the cattle onto the cart and placing the chicken and sheep in it along with some feed, the cart became full. Then the girls took hold of either end of the cart and took off for the skies.

On their way back, a slow moving titan who stood at twenty-five feet tall with blond hair and blue eyes saw the flying cart with all the goods on it without any people to be seen. As the cart passed by him at eye level it reached out for it, surprised when the cart sped up and moved out of its reach.

"That was too close for comfort. Let's get back as soon as possible," Ranko said with a gasp.

"Well, we're almost home. After we're done here, I'm getting a good night's sleep."

"I bet, you'd like to have a good night's sleep with Armin, hmm?"

"Now why would ever you say something like that?" Ranko answered back with a coy look over her shoulders.

XXX

A month later, Ranko and Ranma exited the kitchen and sat down in the mess hall enjoying fried rice and modified chicken chow mein along with Espresso coffee in a darkened corner. Everyone else was also happy to eat a breakfast consisting of coffee, vegetable soup, fruit, jam, sauerkraut, ham, sausage, bacon and eggs and other fare along with their bread which actually tasted a lot better.

"It's a little strange eating chow mein with sauerkraut and other different vegetables, but it's still been a long time since I've had Asian food this good. And here I thought I'd never see a Chinese style chef all the way out here," Ranma commented.

"This Chinese food is pretty good, Ranma. And it was worth the time it took for us to grab all that livestock, produce, and dry ingredients when we had to keep up with our 3DMG training."

At that moment a girl wearing a red scarf walked over to them with a plate of food in her hands. "What are you two talking about? Did you have something to do with the new food we've been getting?" the girl said in less than perfect Japanese.

Ranko and Ranma's eyes looked up in surprise at the newcomer with familiar facial features as she sat down with Armin and Johnny on either side of her.

"Who are you?" Ranma asked with suspicion as Ranko admired the gorgeously cute boy sitting next the scarfed girl.

"Greetings, I'm Mikasa Wunderbar," the girl said with a slight Japanese bow that was executed wrongly.

"Hi. You're Japanese is pretty good," Ranko said politely.

"Thank you, but your Japanese is better than mine. It's practically flawless. My mother's Japanese wasn't as good as yours either. But let's speak in German so my friends, Armin and Johnny, here can understand us. As it is, the other cadets here think you two are weird."

"All right, but we're not really worried about what a lot of people here think of us," Ranma answered in German.

"Is that Espresso coffee?" Armin asked with his eyes wide in anticipation.

"Oh, yes, it is! Please have some," Ranko offered with a wonderful smile that made the boy melt.

"Oh, great!" Johnny announced as he also helped himself to some coffee.

"How did you guys bring this food here?" Armin asked as he helped himself. "Some of this food comes from the Shiganshina District."

"I think you're mistaken," Ranma answered, looking to her right askance.

"I know what I'm talking about. I'm from a family of farmers. During these recent days, I've noticed you two had an almost concealed aroma similar to that of livestock and produce. In addition to all that, I haven't had hearty food like this since Wall Maria was breached over two years ago."

Ranma and Ranko turned towards Mikasa and glared at her, thus the girl answered their unsaid accusations.

"I didn't tell him what you said to each other. Armin's very intelligent and he was a farmer. And as I said before, people here see you two as odd."

"Why do people say that?"

"They say that because it's true," Ymir commented as she and Krista Lenz sat down with Ymir taking hold of the coffee pot and helping herself to a cup.

Then Krista broke in. "Ymir isn't trying to be mean, you guys. She just wanted…"

"Don't soften up what I'm saying, Krista, not right now anyway. I knew there was something unusual about these two. Whenever there's any kind of exercising, running, or other kinds of training, these two go through them like a midnight stroll despite the attempts of Shadis to make things harder for them."

"So what's your point?" Ranma asked impatiently.

"You guys are hiding something and there's more to you than meets the eye," Ymir retorted.

"Really? Anyway, it would be best if you guys keep the way this food has arrived here quite," Ranko answered firmly.

"We won't tell anyone, Ranko, but it won't be long until somebody else figures things out," Armin answered as he happily drank more coffee.

"Look, Armin," Ranko said with a blushing smile, surprising the young boy. "As far as anybody knows the supplies Chef Celine has been demanding have finally come through. There's no reason people should start looking at us as the reason this better food has finally shown up."

"How did you make it over the wall into the titan infested territory and back without a scratch?" Mikasa asked.

The two girls turned towards each other for a moment. Then Ranma said, "we simply stayed hidden from any titans there."

"For some reason, I doubt it's that simple," Mikasa said in response.

"Fraid so."

"It seems to me that the both of you have some ability to stand up to titans without any kind of fear or concern. You've also gone through all of the training with flying colors. It would be best if you teach the rest of us what you know," Mikasa requested.

"We can start teaching you, but it will be a long time before you'll be able to do some of the things Ranko and I can do," Ranma explained.

"Yes, that's true," Ranko confirmed. Then her eyes turned towards Armin who was voraciously enjoying his coffee.

"Hmm?" Armin's baby blue eyes looked up at the sexy, friendly girl whose protruding cleavage leaned forward in his direction.

"Armin, I've noticed you struggling with the physical part of the training. I can help you to do better. I might even be able to help with your stealth skills," Ranma said gently.

"Oh, that would be nice," Armin responded happily.

"I can use some help too!" Johnny broke in.

"All right, we'll help you."

"Hey, there was a reason I showed up here, and it wasn't for the better coffee either," Ymir interjected.

"And what was that?" Ranko asked suspiciously.

Ymir leaned in closer before she said, "exactly where have you and your friend gotten your underwear? And why do you smell so much better than all the other girls here?"

"What?!"

"You heard me. Some of the nice things you have are normally reserved only for princesses and noblewomen. Tell you what, you don't have to tell me exactly where you get all that stuff, but I want at least one set of really nice underwear that fits me and some other things you have too," Ymir answered without the least bit of shyness or restraint.

"We'll see what we can do," Ranko answered, folding her arms on her chest and sitting back comfortably.

"You'll do it or else," Ymir answered in a veiled, threatening manner.

"Or else what?" Ranma responded.

"Wouldn't it be a pity if someone were to find out what you've been doing all this time?" Ymir queried with a sly smile.

"It would be a pity if you were to fall over the wall into the lap of a bunch of ravenous titans, wouldn't it?" Ranma responded.

"You don't scare me." To Ymir's surprise, Ranma and Ranko were unaffected by her intimidating glare.

"Ymir don't say stuff like!" Krista broke in. "Ranma and Ranko have been very nice to bring better food to all of us."

"Yeah, well they owe me after helping them."

"You didn't help us; you helped Sasha," Ranko countered back.

"Well, she's a friend of yours."

"We hardly know her. We were just being nice to her by keeping her from collapsing to the ground," Ranma sounded back.

"And it was Krista who gave her the bread and water, not you," Ranko said, finally returning the taller girl's glare."

At this point, Mikasa stepped in. "Look, it's not a good idea for us to start threatening each other, Ymir."

Then she turned towards Ranma and Ranko. "However, all of the girls here have seen some of the nice things you two have. If you want everyone here to support you without being resentful, it would be best if you got some nice things for them too."

Ranko and Ranma paused and looked at each other for a moment. "We can talk about getting nicer things for the other girls here later on. But the less people who know about our over the wall visits the better," Ranko answered, giving Ymir a sharp look.

"Get me what I want and I'll make sure you won't have any problems with the other girls shooting their mouths off. You can handle these two, can't you, Mikasa?" Ymir said in reference to Armin.

"Yes."

"We want some nice things too!"

Ranma and Ranko looked up and saw two youngsters making their way towards them.

"Who the heck are you?" the perturbed Ymir demanded of the newcomers.

"We're Jackie and Fannie Leon," the two siblings said in unison before sitting down and crowding the table.

"You were the ones skulking in the shadows when we went over the wall a couple times, weren't you? What do you want?" Ranko asked.

"We actually want to go with you next time," Fannie answered.

"I don't think so. You're both lacking in stealth capabilities, thus you'll draw the titans to us," Ranma answered.

"No, we won't. We have ways of making ourselves hidden from titans," Jackie answered quickly.

"Well, if you guys are so able, what's stopping you from going off on your own? Why do you need us?" Ranko asked with her arms folded on her chest.

The two siblings paused for a moment. Then Jackie spoke up. "We don't have the ability to fly like you guys can."

"You guys can fly?!" Mikasa asked.

"Don't believe everything you hear, Mikasa," Ranko replied with a roll of her eyes.

"We've seen you do it. You and your comadre flew as you carried the cart with all that stuff on it," Fannie declared.

"That's right. How else were you able to get over the wall with all that stuff?" Jackie countered.

"Well, I'll be," Ymir said under her breath.

As everyone at the table stared at Ranma and Ranko for a moment, the two girls glared at the siblings.

"Look, we're not trying to expose your secrets, but our family managed to plant cocoa bean trees just inside of Wall Maria a long time ago. And we haven't had chocolate since the titans breached Wall Maria, and we'd like to have some more. Haven't you had chocolate?"

"No, I have no idea what you're talking about," Ranko broke in.

"Chocolate is wonderful. And there are so many things you can do with it. If the chef here is capable of making lemon and strawberry cakes and pies, she surely could make a chocolate cake," Jackie answered, licking his lips in anticipation.

"We might even be able to plant some cocoa trees within Wall Rose after we get some cocoa seeds. Wouldn't that be wonderful?!" Fannie said in hopeful anticipation.

"You'll have to show us how you're able to keep the titans from being aware of you, assuming you can do that," Ranko answered.

"It might just be best if they tell us where these chocolate trees are. It's not worth the risk of bringing these kids along," Ranma said.

"We'll draw a map of where the trees are and how to pick the cocoa beans off of them, if you like," Jackie said in reply.

"But we'd like for you to get some of it as soon as possible. When you bring the cocoa beans to us, we'll bring some of that to the chef and tell her how to make use of them," Fannie replied as she looked around to make sure nobody else was listening.

XXX

"That's pretty good, Ryoga. Your sense of balance is amazing," Squad Captain Diego Conde said as Ryoga swung in the air using his three dimensional maneuvering gear, wearing his survey scout uniform as his green cape billowed in the wind behind him.

Diego Conde's moderately muscular, broad shouldered body kept up with the fast moving Ryoga as his handsome, bronze skin and shoulder length, jet-black hair shone in the sun. The man's large, thoughtful eyes regarded the narrowing distance between them and their destination.

"Thank you, Captain. You and the other captains are good teachers. You're an even better teacher than Captain Levi," Ryoga answered as he engaged in all kinds of fast paced maneuvers, bypassing oncoming trees and other obstacles without slowing down in the slightest as Diego kept up a few feet behind him on his own three dimensional maneuvering gear.

"Are you using your flying ability to do what you're doing now?" the captain asked.

"No. I know how important it is for me to master this equipment, so I'm just using my agility and reflexes to move as fast as possible."

"If that's true, how come you're hardly using any gas?"

"Hmm. I must have minimized my gravity. If that's a problem I can turn that back on as well," the brawny boy answered.

"You've been minimizing your gravity all this time?"

"Yes, but I've just now normalized it."

At that point, Diego noticed Ryoga using more gas as he stayed right behind him.

"I've noticed you and some of the men directly under you speak a language that's different from what most people normally speak around here. Did you make it over here from another country the way my friends and I did?" Ryoga asked the swarthy officer.

Diego regarded Ryoga for a moment. Then he answered him. "Yes, we barely escaped from a place called Barcelona (Northeast modern day Spain) which is hundreds of miles from here. It was fortunate for us that my great-great-grandfather found out about these walls and led a contingent of us here over hundred years ago."

Ryoga nodded his head in agreement. "By the way, how is your acrobatic training coming along?" Ryoga asked.

"I'm doing all right with that. I'm glad you know how to figure out what each of us is more capable of doing within your martial arts repertoire. Even those senzu beans you've doled out are useful."

"That's true, but there's only a finite amount of those despite my efforts to try to plant one of them into fertile ground. As it is, it takes months for them to germinate; that's assuming there'll be a new crop of them," Ryoga explained with a look of seriousness in his eyes.

In the alternate universe Ryoga had resided, he had learned how to create a subspace pocket where he was able to place a small amount of material like the senzu beans from that universe. He hadn't been able to access this subspace while he was a rabbit due to the fact that his mind was somewhat clouded. Upon turning back into a man he then had access to the subspace pocket.

"Yeah, well, we all knew the risks when we joined up with the scouts. And nobody knew you'd show up with magic beans that would heal fatal wounds though. And don't feel bad about the ones who died before you could get to them," Diego replied.

Scientists from Diego's contingent at a hidden base inside one of the hallowed out mountains near Wall Rose were working hard to replicate the senzu beans after Diego had given a stolen bean to them.

"Did you learn everything in that place you call Asia?"

"Pretty much, but I was able to learn a thing or two outside of Asia, sometimes by sight."

The martial arts and techniques Ryoga had taught them had helped to minimize the normally grievous losses to the titans. Many of the scouts had learned how to lower their gravity enabling each one to jump higher, move quicker, and ride faster on horses in short spurts.

"I was wondering whether or not you were over rated too until I started learning a few new things myself."

"That's good, Captain Conde. But I still think any opportunity to raise our level of technology needs to be taken," Ryoga replied giving the captain a side wards glance.

"You have no idea how much I agree with that statement, Ryoga, but you know the rules. The king doesn't want any technological advances. I've had several discussions with Erwin on that subject. As it was, Erwin's own father died for his technological brilliance."

"That king is just a figurehead much like the Emperor of Japan was. Do you have any idea who's really running things?"

"I guess that would be the highest ranking nobles, but it's not as if I could point any of them out. What are you suggesting?"

"Well, in Japan, the Emperor's lineage would always be consistent, but the shogun who really ran the country would change as soon as somebody was strong enough to make the true leadership of the country to change hands," Ryoga said without taking his eyes off of where he was going.

"I don't like what's going on with the leadership of the country any more than you do, Ryoga, but such talk is dangerous. Don't ever even breathe such words in the interior walls. Come to think of it, you should be careful even while you're out here."

"Maybe Colonel Erwin could be like the shoguns of Japan or the Chinese who overthrew monarchies when the rulers were incompetent."

"Erwin's doing a lot as it is. What makes you think he could run the whole country?" Diego asked as he continued to keep up with him.

"He's already proven to me how strong he is with the many brutally painful techniques I've taught him. He has a great deal of intelligence as well. Levi has the mental strength to learn a lot of things as well, but he still sees me as over rated."

"That's all well and good, Ryoga, but if the king and the nobles who run everything thought that Erwin was going to take over, they'd have all of our heads. So please keep all of that under your hood," Diego answered solemnly.

"I understand, but there's something going on behind the scenes that I can't quite put my finger on. Anyway, it looks as if we're near our destination."

Out of nowhere a couple of twenty-five foot titans appeared in front of them, but Ryoga didn't slow down in the slightest as he bypassed the first titan's attempt to take hold of him, swinging around towards the nape of his neck and using the regulation blades he was given, sending the titan crashing to the ground in a smoldering heap. Within the blink of an eye, the other one moved in on Ryoga who swung around too quickly for it, landing on its wrist then running up its arm and shoulder until he arrived behind the creature's neck, slicing through it with the blades the survey scouts normally used.

"Well played, Ryoga! You weren't the least bit frightened?"

"Nope. Being afraid would not have helped me in the slightest. The biggest problem I've seen with even the Recon Corps and others is fear. There have been too many times when a titan had taken hold of someone who froze or screamed in fear."

"Yes, it's difficult to be brave when you're staring at the maw of a titan that's about to eat you," Conde replied.

"I suppose it is, but there's so much someone can do while the titan's moving you towards his mouth."

"Like what?" Conde asked.

"For one thing, someone can use their blades to slice themselves free. He can also slice off the titan's teeth. It's not over til it's over."

"Well said, my friend. Maybe you can teach the others your courage. I've tried to teach the others my courage, but that hasn't worked out too well."

XXX

"All right, everybody!" Ranma called out to all everyone in the girls' side of the camp as she and Ranko opened up a large bag.

"Here are some of the things you've been wanting."

"Finally," Ymir stated.

"Now who does this fit?" Ranma said, showing everybody a white silk bra and panty ensemble as three girls stepped forward.

"Did you guys get perfume? I 'd like that too!" another girl called out.

"We got it right here," Ranko answered.

After everything had been divvied up, Ranma walked over towards Ymir who was admiring the brand new, normally expensive underwear and accessories she had gotten. "Now you owe me, Ymir."

"I'm good for it. I won't forget how you took care of me. And I'll make sure nobody else forgets it either."

After that had been said, Ranma nodded her head in recognition. Then she made her way back to her area of the barracks.

Then Fannie Leon walked over to Ranko. "What I got was nice, but how about getting the chocolate my brother and I was talking to you about?"

Ranma and Ranko had found the trees that had cocoa beans on them, having picked all the beans off of them. Due to Fannie and her brother's enthusiasm over the fruit, the girls had brought several bags of it. However, the taste was bitter. Neither of them understood why the Leon siblings had wanted the cocoa beans so badly.

"I got some of it. I even gave a few bags of it to the chefs here, but I don't know what's so great about these cocoa beans," Ranma said, handing Fannie two basketball sized bags of them.

"Ay carumba! This is it!" the girl announced, taking a good whiff of the contents."

"What's so great about that stuff?" Ymir asked with contempt as she looked over at the bags.

"The food that these cocoa beans can make is stupendous! Wait until you taste it!" Fannie answered as she happily regarded the bags.

XXX

For over two years, Ranma and Ranko had been training some of the others in hand to hand combat. Many people thought the way Ranko and Ranma trained was strange and even asinine. However, a few of the cadets realized how skilled these girls were and trained under them.

"Ow!" Armin yelled as he put his hands into an open fire, grasping for chestnuts that were roasting in there.

"That's it, Armin. The training we're putting you through will make you stronger and faster. No pain, no gain!" Ranko called out from a couple feet away.

"If that's true, I'll be gaining a whole lot. I've since figured out how some of the other strange, excessively painful exercises you've had me do have made me a better fighter, but how does this make me faster again?" the boy asked.

"By grabbing the chestnuts on an open fire, it forces you to move your hands as fast as possible. When you've mastered that, you'll be ready for the next stage of the training. Here, let me show you how to do it once again. Pay attention."

At super human speed, Ranko put her hands in the fire and took hold of the roasting chestnuts. "See that?"

"Uh, yes. Were all those mental and physical exercises you've had me do designed to help me endure this kind of pain?"

"That's right, Armin. Keep at it. You'll get there. I can tell that you've gotten stronger and faster already, but let me take a closer look."

"Hmm?"

Before Armin knew what was happening, Ranko had placed herself behind him, placing her hands inside of his jacket, caressing him.

"Ha ha ha ha! Stop that. You're tickling me!"

"You have the cutest laugh and your muscles feel so good," Ranko said as her hands worked upwards.

"Hehehehehe! Mercy, please!" the boy giggled helplessly.

"All right," Ranma said with a smile. "You've definitely gotten stronger. I can feel your chest and abdominal muscles have gotten more defined."

"Why don't you two get a room?!"

Armin looked up to see Eren's cousin, Johnny Sako gazing upon him and Ranko with a raised eyebrows.

"What is it, Johnny? Do you want to try to do this?"

"No, the hand to hand combat training Ranma and Ranko have been putting me through is grueling enough," the boy answered.

"Then why are you here?"

"I was just curious as to what you were doing. It's kind of weird. Ymir was right about Ranma and Ranko being odd. She even thinks some of the people training under you are rubes."

"Rubes?! What's that girl's problem? At any rate, what can we teach you that interests you?" Ranko asked.

"I've actually practiced the flying you and Ranma do. That's what interests me more than anything else."

"That's really hard to learn without having learned previous ki based techniques. Maybe you'd like to try something else?"

"You mean like what Mikasa is doing over there?"

At the same time, Ranma had tied a six foot diameter boulder to a tower with a ten yard rope.

"Get ready! Here it comes!" Then she pulled it back and shoved it in the direction of Mikasa who stood at the ready.

Mikasa attempted to strike the oncoming rock with her fingers. "Bakusai tenketsu! Aargh!" the girl screamed as the giant rock smashed into her.

"I've tried holding back on the damage this boulder would do, but this might be too much for you. Let's try a weaker technique," Ranma said out loud.

"No, I can handle it," the girl said in a groan.

Eventually one of the doubters decided to confront the two martial artists and expose them for what they were. "What are they doing?"

Ranma and Ranko turned towards the sound of the voice which belonged to a young, fair skinned woman with blonde hair fashioned into a short ponytail at the back and a left bang longer than her right bang at the sides of her forehead. The girl had light-blue eyes and stood at five feet two inches tall weighing a slender 105 pounds.

"They're training, Annie. Do you want to join them?"

"No, I don't, Ranko, but I'd like to see for myself how tough you and your friend really are. Frankly, I think the both of you are full of it. And why are you torturing poor Armin by making him put his hand into a bonfire?" the girl demanded harshly.

After walking over to Armin, Annie patted him on the shoulder. "If you want to learn how to fight, I can help you," she said with a smile.

Then Annie felt herself being jerked backwards. "Don't interrupt!"

"Oooh!" Johnny called out. "I can't wait to see what happens now!"

"What do you call these ridiculous things they're doing? I don't care if Mikasa wants to injure herself, but Armin is too smart to let you make a fool of himself like this, Ranko," the angry blond spat out.

"It's called speed training, Annie. Would you like to see how fast I really am?" Ranko answered.

"Yes," Annie answered with her eyes narrowed in on her.

"_Annie wasn't there when Ranko and I handed out all that underwear and accessories. Where was she?"_ Ranma thought to herself.

"All right. Let's get busy," the buxom girl announced with a martial arts pose.

At that point, Annie charged her new opponent only to be hit by a snap kick that was faster than she was able to sense. As Annie went crashing to the ground, she shook her head in surprise. Then she got up and charged Ranko again only to be thrown in the air, crashing to the ground on her but.

"You need to learn how to land on your feet, Annie. Anyway, are we done now? Good. Now run along, little girl. I'm busy," Ranko said as she turned around and made her way back to Armin.

"We're not done yet!" Annie charged Ranko again, attacking with a flying kick that missed. Upon deftly landing, she attempted dozens of well executed punches and kicks that all failed to connect as the agile girl seemed to be standing still. Then Ranko counter attacked!

"Tenshin amaguriken!" Annie's back hit the ground like a ton of bricks after Ranko struck her with hundreds of punches in a matter of seconds in a machine gun like manner.

Everyone who was training in the camp gasped audibly upon seeing the end of the fight which really hadn't lasted all that long. Then Ranko did an about face with a confident switch of her hips, making her way back to Armin who had stopped what he was doing to watch the fight.

"Did you see that, Armin Sweetie? That's what you'll be able to do when I'm done with you. Fortunately for Annie, I decided to hold back. Now let's get back to work."

At that point another girl walked over to them. She was a medium sized, attractive girl with black eyes and hair that was fashioned into two large ponytails that had grown past her neck and shoulders.

"Hey, I'm Mina Carolina. I'm also from the Karanese District. Even though I don't remember ever seeing you guys, could you train me too?"

"Sure, but it will be painful."

"And make sure you pay attention to what we're telling you as well," Ranma commented, turning away from Mikasa for a moment.

"Yes, all right."

Then some more of the other cadets made their way towards Ranma and Ranko, making the same request.

XXX

The next day Ranma was working with Mikasa again, where she was surprised by her quick progress. Unbeknownst to Mikasa, Eren's father who was a doctor and a scientist had injected her with a serum that mildly increased her strength, agility, and toughness. Ever since that time, the girl had proved to be practically invincible in combat with all the other boys in the village.

Upon seeing his success with Mikasa, Eren's father planned to do the same thing for his son, Eren, but one thing after another happened like the outbreak of a plague that almost wiped everyone out. Then he had to tend to some members of the royal family. By the time he was ready to create the serum for Eren as well the tragedy of the titans occurred. To his dismay, Eren had vanished in the explosion of his lab. He then had to use it on himself and escape in order to create another concoction.

"Bakusai tenketsu!" Upon striking the boulder with her fingers, Mikasa shattered it into a million pieces.

"Good work, Mikasa. You've finally did it. You've mastered that technique almost as fast as my boyfriend did."

"Thanks, Ranma. I really appreciate all the help you and Ranko have given me," Mikasa answered with her breath halted.

"You've earned it, Mikasa. The sooner all of us can get stronger the quicker we can take this world back from the titans."

"You and Ranko really believe that, don't you?" Mikasa asked.

"That's right. My boyfriend believes it too. I'd like to introduce you to him one day. He's a great guy with a lot of spirit and dedication."

"He sounds like someone I knew a long time ago," Mikasa answered with a hint of sadness.

While many of the cadets were training in hand to hand combat, two of the trainers there walked among them, observing. The older one had white hair while wearing glasses while the younger one was in his mid-twenties with light brown hair.

"Have you noticed those two redheaded girls?" the younger one commented.

"Yes, the commandant did everything he could to break them, but they always passed his tests with flying colors. Now they're training some of the other recruits in their weird fighting styles and techniques that make little sense," the older one answered.

"There's even a rumor going around that the two of them have sneaked outside Wall Rose in order to get food and material that are in short supply around here," the younger one said.

"That rumor's balderdash. There's no way they could have gotten over the wall and back so easily," the older one commented.

"But how is it the food is so much better ever since they've gotten here? There's even more livestock in the barn."

"Chef Celine came here a few days before they did, and she's a much better cook than the previous chef. She's also demanded and gotten better ingredients."

"I guess that's true. However, I've also noticed that the girls around here have become better looking. They even smell better."

"Really?" the older trainer asked.

"Yes. Even their bosoms seem to stand at attention too. They also seem more comfortable and less fidgety." the young man stated as he looked around.

"You're imagining things. You need to get out more. When's the last time you had a woman?" the older trainer asked.

"It's been a while. Yeah, maybe you're right."

"Besides, this group of cadets is about to graduate. Then there'll be another group of cadets to replace. So don't fall in love with this group. Hmm," the older trainer commented as he watched some of the cadets training with Ranma and Ranko executing amazing feats.

XXX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I hope you've enjoyed reading this. Please give me a review and let me know what you think of this.


	6. The Return of the Colossal Titan

Attack on Ranma

Chapter Six

"_THOUGHTS"_

XXX

Upon graduation, everybody who had endured and finished boot camp stood at attention in front of several of the trainers including the older one who stood a few feet in front of the others with his hands clasped behind his back. The trainers were behind the entrance of the training camp where the cadets had lived for three long years.

"Our previous one hundred years of peace have made us soft, but we must always be vigilant. The Colossal Titan can reappear at any moment. If that happens you must be prepared to give up your very lives."

"Yes, sir!" the newly coifed soldiers said in unison with a salute.

"Today marks the end and disbanding of the 104th training squad. Tomorrow you'll apply for your assignments!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Now I'll announce the ten who've obtained the best results. The first one is Ranma Sautorme. Then the second one is Ranko Tendeau. The third is Mikasa Wunderbar. The fourth is Armin Bateman. The fifth is Johnny Sako. The sixth is Reiner Braun. The seventh is Bertholdt Fubar. The eighth is Annie Lockhardt. The ninth is Connie Springer. And the tenth is Mina Carolina."

"All right!" Johnny Sako shouted, jumping up several feet in the air with everybody there impressed with his leaping ability.

Johnny had grown into a wiry height of six feet tall weighing a moderately muscular one hundred seventy-five pounds.

Armin had also changed a great deal over the years, growing to an impressive height of five feet ten inches tall. In addition to that, his appearance had matured with golden hair growing past his shoulders. While he was still gorgeously cute with baby blue eyes, and a bright countenance, all of that was backed up by hundred seventy-five pounds of well-defined muscle and a moderately barrel chested physique making him resemble an Adonis.

"_Armin is so easy on the eyes. He's really thrived under the training I've put him through. It was amazing how he used his intelligence to figure out what he needed to do. Now it's time to let him know how I feel about him,"_ Ranko thought blissfully as her eyes moved to her left in his direction.

"As you all know, only the top ten will be able to apply for the military police. That will be all," the older trainer announced, dismissing everybody and taking his leave.

"Wait a minute, sir," Marco Bodt called out as he ran up to him. The handsome, young man was of medium height and build with neatly short cropped, dark brown hair and an unusually clean shaven face. He had wanted so badly to be part of the military police, but he had barely been edged out of the top ten.

"What is it, soldier?"

"I know I didn't make the top ten, but I know for a fact that some of the people who made the top ten aren't going to join the military police. Can I take one of their places?"

"I don't know about that, soldier. What's your name?"

"I'm Marco Bodt."

"Oh, I see. You were actually eleventh. Well, if what you're saying is true. Then I guess we can see about getting you into the military police. I'm not sure about that though. I'll let you know. That will be all."

"Yes, sir!" Marco said happily with a sharp salute as the trainer walked away. Then one of the top ten made her way to him.

"They're not going to let you in the military police," Annie said, dashing the hopes of the enthusiastic young man.

"What?! Why not?!"

"The military police only want the very best. It doesn't matter that Armin, Johnny, Mikasa, Ranma, and that other bitch are planning to join the survey corps or not. Even if nobody out of our group was going to join the military police, they still wouldn't let you in."

"But, but…"

"That's how things work, Marco. You can still give service to the King by joining the survey corps or the garrison." With that having been said, Annie sauntered off.

XXX

"So you didn't make the top ten either, eh?" Jean Kirschstein said to his friend, Marco, while they ate their meal in the army mess hall.

Jean Kirschstein was five feet ten inches tall with a slender build. In addition to that, he had short, light brown hair in a buzz cut style on the sides.

"That's true. But I barely got edged out."

"Don't feel so bad about it, Marco. I was twelfth. It's surprising that those strange girls from Karanese went to the top of the class, but what's worse is that wimp Armin Bateman beat us out too. What's this world coming to?" Jean said.

"Yeah, well. I'm not sure what I'm going to do now," Marco replied.

Then Jean looked over his shoulder and noticed that Armin and Ranko were sitting behind him. "Look at the lovebirds. I don't know which of you are prettier. Are the both of you joining the military police or are you suicidal and joining the survey scouts?"

"We're joining the survey corps," Armin answered firmly.

"That's right," Ranko confirmed. "And I'm the one who's the prettiest.

"What?! How could you edge me out and not join the military police?! How dare you?!" Marco demanded.

"I want to see the outside world," Armin answered.

"That's true, and why would you want to be cooped up in the interior when there's so much to see out there?" Ranko asked.

"I wanted to honorably serve the King."

"Going all noble on us, Marco? Why don't you be honest? You simply wanted to escape the outer cities in order to live a life of ease and comfort that would have awaited us if a couple of people hadn't have ruined the grading curve," Jean said, pounding his beer mug down in a rage and regarding Ranma and Ranko who sat at the same table as Johnny, Mikasa, and Armin.

"Exactly what are you looking at?" Ranma countered.

"I'm looking at you two strange girls. You've shot up to the top of the class despite the commandant doing everything he could to trip you up. Then you helped a bunch of losers who probably couldn't have made it too far otherwise. Your weird training techniques ruined the plans of Marco and me," Jean announced, prompting some of the others to stare at the two girls.

"What are you talking about?" Ranko demanded.

"You know what I'm talking about. There's even a rumor that you two leaped over the wall into titan infested territory in order to get things that are in short supply around here. At any rate, you've made a lot of sad sacks and incompetents schmucks better than they had a right to be," Jean commented, giving Armin and Johnny a hard look.

"What is it?" Armin answered as Johnny glared at Jean.

"You were the most incompetent person here, Armin, until you started hanging around Ranma and Ranko with their weird, life threatening training techniques. Your friend, Johnny wasn't much better. But in a matter of years both of you have gotten bigger, stronger, and faster. And we all know why that is."

"Don't feel so bad for not making the military police and thus the interior, Jean. Where we are now used to be part of the interior!" Johnny called out with a mug of beer in his hands.

"That's right," Ranma commented. "How long is everybody going to simply retreat? We need to take the fight to the titans."

"Not only are you weird, you're insane. Four years ago, half the population tried to take the fight to the titans in a bid to take back lost territory. All they got was a trip into the titans' stomachs. There's no such thing as victory against the titans," Jean stated confidently.

At this point everybody became quite. Most of the cadets there looked at their meals downcast. However, as Ranma was about to speak up, Armin broke in. "What good is it to give up? The main reason we lost was due to our ignorance of them. Now we know how to defeat them. I have a dream where we retake Wall Maria and eventually retake the whole world from the titans."

"Way to go, Armin!" Ranko cheered, clapping her hands.

"Well, Armin, at least one of the oddballs agrees with you. She and her weird friend are the only ones here who think there's a chance for victory against the titans. Did she increase your delusions of grandeur or did you come here with them already sky high?!" Jean responded.

"No, they haven't. They've just added hope. Ranma and Ranko have helped me and everybody else who wanted it. It's too bad more people didn't learn from them. They could have helped you too."

"What?! You mean put my hands into a raging fire and let them take a boulder and smash it into me? No way!"

"It worked for me. I'm a whole lot stronger now," Armin breathed out, his powerful chest threatening to tear the shirt he wore.

"Armin, you're still a wimp despite what has happened and what you look like now!" Jean snapped.

Then Armin got up and walked over towards his tormentor, getting in his face. "I hate you calling me a wimp! I won't have it!"

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah! Why don't you just go into the interior already? Maybe the Military Police will take you since hardly any of the top ten want to join up with them. As it is, we don't need your defeatist talk around here anyway," Armin replied.

"Didn't you hear me earlier, you halfwit?! They only take the best, the top ten! They don't take second best!"

"So that means you're second best. Is that right?"

"I'm not second best. Your two oddball friends made losers like you a lot better than you could have ever been otherwise. Thus you guys screwed me over! Now get out of my face!" Jean screamed, trying to violently shove Armin who simply stood his ground.

"What the…" Jean exclaimed as he found that he couldn't budge Armin an inch. Then the gorgeous boy did an about face and walked off.

"Where do you think you're going?! Everything you've learned is a joke! It's high time I proved that right here and now!"

Jean came running towards Armin who actually seemed oblivious to what was going to happen until he sidestepped the attack, allowing Jean to go crashing into a wall.

"Aargh!" Jean moaned as he shook his head in order to recover. Then he turned around and faced Armin again, realizing how much stronger and imposing the boy had become in contrast to what he was when he first entered the training camp.

"You think you're so tough? There's no way those Karanese girls could have made you a better fighter than me!"

"Hey, Jean, have you forgotten how high Armin scored in hand to hand combat, as weird as his fighting style is!" Reiner shouted out with a mug of beer in his hand.

Reiner Braun was a large, well-built young man with fairly short, blond hair and a look of reliability and toughness on his face. He had been a little helpful to Armin in the first stages of their training at camp, but even he had been surprised and impressed with the fact that the formerly weak boy had turned into a powerful warrior due to the training Ranma and especially Ranko had put him through.

"I don't believe it. Ever since this wimp's hung around with those two Karanese girls he's gotten too big for his britches. He's had a comeuppance coming to him for a long time, and I'm the one to give it to him," Jean said with a look of rage on his face as he marched over to Armin with his muscles bulging, breathing heavily.

"Be careful, Armin! Don't forget how much stronger you are!" Ranko called out from her seat in the mess hall.

Armin stopped for a moment, allowing Jean to throw the first punch which was a shot to the stomach, having no effect.

"Oww! What are you made out of?!"

"I've gotten tough from having that boulder smash into me and all the other things I've done. I'm beginning to understand what that training was all about. I'd beat the daylights out of you right now, but Ranko was right. I'm way too strong for the likes of you." With that, Armin spun around on his heels and walked back to his seat with an air of confidence while Jean nursed his hurting hand.

"Why, you…"

"We're done, Jean," Armin said in a calm, cool voice.

"No, we're not!" Jean shouted as he ran towards the blond again, attempting to strike him with his other hand only to have Armin turn around and catch the fast moving first in the palm of his hand. Then he began to squeeze it ever so slightly.

"Had enough it, Jean, or do I have to get rough?"

"Let go of me, you wimp!"

Jean struggled to break free of the stronger boy's hold until Armin stopped holding his fist down, letting it go and fly back into Jean's face.

"Ow! Why you schmuck!"

Armin had finally assumed the fight was over until a blade appeared in each of Jean's hands. Then he attempted to cut the adonis with it.

"What the…" The well-muscled boy was barely aware enough to avoid any serious damage from the attack, but his light tunic wasn't so fortunate.

"Gotcha!" Jean announced in triumph upon using his extremely competent blade skills slash Armin's shirt to shreds at an inhuman speed. However, he was taken aback when he noticed there were no cuts or slashes on the well-built young man's naked upper body.

"What the… But how?"

"He's gorgeous!" some of the girls there announced.

"I bet I could put a coin through those pecks!"

"Ooooh!"

"I'll say!" another girl commented.

Most of the girls in the room sighed and overtly ogled the well-defined, young man's body until Ranko's eyes bored into them, getting them to back down if only for a moment.

"Take it easy, you guys!" another cadet well over six feet tall with broad shoulders demanded as he got in between them.

"Hey, Franz, get out of the way! I'm just having some fun."

Franz Kefka had greyish-brown colored eyes, closed clipped, nearly bald brown hair and a slight tan.

"Well, the fun's over. Besides, those knives are dangerous. Do you want the commandant to find out?"

"That's right. Humans shouldn't be fighting each other," Hannah said from behind Franz.

Hannah Diamant was fair skinned, tall and slender girl with a face full of freckles and long, orange/red hair done up in a ponytail. She and Franz had been seen together for a while to the point that many people figured they were a couple which they had blushingly denied.

Despite being so close to the object of her desire, Hannah stole a few peaks over her lover's shoulders at Armin's rippling back muscles as he walked away.

"All right. All right!" Jean said, calming down. By this time, Armin had walked towards his seat, with his head held high, feeling really good about himself.

"You showed him!" Johnny announced as he got out of his seat and patted Armin on the back.

"That was wonderful, Armin," Ranko complimented. Then she pulled a nice tunic out of her subspace pouch.

"I was going to give you this later, but since you're practically giving every girl here a free show, you better put this on now."

"Huh? Oh, all right. Thanks, Ranko."

Armin put on the proffered garment which was a silk, dark green velvet tunic with cream sleeves and a plunging neck line that exposed the upper part of his midriff. However, even though the well-formed Adonis was covered up, many of the girls in the room still looked upon him longingly.

"This feels really nice on my skin."

"It looks nice on you too, Armin. I'll dress you up in the rest of the outfit later," Ranko complimented with a smile and a wink.

When things had calmed down, Marco schlepped over to his friend. "It's OK, Jean. We can still serve the King by joining either the scouts or the garrison."

XXX

Later on, Ranko and some of the other new soldiers walked through the main street of town, wearing their regular clothes and passing by vendors who sold fruit, vegetables and other products.

"Don't flash too much money in front of everybody, Ranko. Most soldiers in our pay grade don't make all that much," Ranma had whispered to her in Japanese.

During their over the wall visits, Ranma and Ranko had found a great deal of abandoned money, allowing them to spend as much as they wanted. Then they had each hidden a cache of gold coins and the like where only each one could get to it.

"I get it, Ranma. Just because you're my older sister, doesn't mean you need to babysit me. Sheesh!"

"All right, Ranko. See ya later." With that, Ranma walked off, recognizing someone she hadn't seen in a while.

"What was that about?" Armin asked. By this time, he was wearing the rest of the clothes that matched the dark green tunic he had put on earlier with Ranko having happily helped him put on the rest of the outfit.

"Oh, nothing. Now, where's that bakery, Pretentious Pies? I thought it was around here somewhere," Ranko said, taking a look at the map.

"That place is normally for the rich and the well to do. Why would you want to go to such an expensive place?" Armin said, giving her a wide eyed look with a tilt of his head.

"Don't worry. I can afford it."

"How could you afford a place like that? Oh, I get it," Armin said in recognition.

"Get what?"

"Not only have you gotten goods from the other side of the wall, you've gotten money from there too," Armin stated.

"Well…"

"There's no other way you could afford anything so expensive, especially the clothes you bought me and the nice dress you're wearing now. Is that what Ranma was talking to you about?" Armin explained as he looked down and beheld the impressive décolletage of his beau's midriff that was exposed by the plunging neckline of her purple silk dress with gold trim that caressed her bodily curves perfectly.

"See something you like, Armin baby?"

"Um."

"If I didn't like you so much, I'd say you were a pervert. I should tickle you for that," Ranko said looking up at him with a wry smile as she reached for him.

"Hey, no fair!" Armin protested, putting his arms around himself.

"That's all right. You're too cute for me to be angry at you for too long anyway. And don't worry about the money. We'll do just fine. When you were talking about winning the war against the titans, I was in total agreement. One day we'll take the world back from them. Then we'll have a nice place to live," Ranko said with a sweet smile that made the boy melt.

"You two are acting like a couple," Marco broke in as he caught up to them.

After the cadets had left the base on their leave, Marco had decided to follow Ranko and Ranma because he had been impressed with how the girls looked in their new clothes. He was also curious as to how they managed to have such nice, expensive things in the first place.

"_I bet they have rich sugar daddies in the interior,"_ Marco thought to himself.

"Suppose we are acting like a couple?" Ranko said with a toothy smile as she sighed and put her caressing hands inside the open midriff of her lover's tunic, starting from his pectorals and working her way downward to his chiseled abdominals.

"Ha, ha ha! Stop that," Armin laughed, blushing a little.

"You know you love it. You definitely loved it earlier," Ranko answered with a smile and a heave of her bosom in his direction.

"Is that so?" Armin said, giving his beau a sideward glance, narrowing his eyes at her. Then he reached over, caressing the center of her shoulder blades, working his way down her spine. Upon caressing the small of her back, Armin's hand went around her waistline until he touched her belly button.

"Ah, ha ha ha ha ha! Mercy!" Ranko giggled.

"Would you two just knock it off?!" Marco had finally had enough, thus he stormed off into the bustling market place.

"Anyway, Armin is there anything in the outside world you would like to see or have? Maybe I could get it for you."

"No. I'm just happy to see you're so confident. I do hope to see the rest of the world someday though," the boy answered.

"You will, Armin. You will."

"You seem to really know what you're talking about when it comes to the outside world. You and Ranma aren't really from Karanese, are you?"

"Let's not talk about that," Ranko said, turning her head from the right to the left, making sure nobody else was listening.

"It's OK, Ranko. I understand the need for secrecy. Maybe you'll tell me more about it someday."

"One day, I will."

While this was going on, Ranma had finally caught up to the person she had seen who was walking along with several other green caped members of the Reconnaissance Corps.

"Ryoga!" Ranma called out, waving her hand up and down in his direction and running towards him.

"Who is that?!" Johnny, Mikasa, and Armin announced in stereo. Then they each looked ahead and saw Ranma make her way towards someone that looked familiar.

"Ranma!"

The affectionate girl ran into the cloaked figure, prompting the brawny boy to take hold of her and twirl her around.

"It's so great to see you! How have you been?" Ranma asked as she held him tightly, her hands getting inside his cape, caressing him.

"I'm all right, Ranma. We took some serious casualties in our last mission outside the walls, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been."

"You look so serious. Was it really that bad?" Ranma commented.

"It was. Soon, we'll have to go out on another mission. Have you graduated yet?" Ryoga asked, noticing she wasn't wearing a uniform.

"Yes, they're allowing us to walk around in our normal clothes for the time being," Ranma said, answering him.

"How'd you get such lavishly expensive raiment?" Ryoga commented as he regarded her olive green dress with golden trim that accentuated the décolletage of her exposed cleavage over which some of her long hair had cascaded.

"Well, Ranko and I made some trips to the titan infested area within Wall Maria. There was a lot of stuff there for the taking."

"Well, you'll have plenty of time to do that in the Survey Corps." Then Ryoga paused.

"What's wrong, Ryoga?"

"Winning the war against the titans will take more time than either of us had anticipated, Ranma. We have a long road ahead of us."

In answer to Ryoga's glum mood, Ranma looked up and regarded him. "No matter how long it takes, we're in it to win it."

Ryoga's countenance changed to that of a smile as he held her closer to himself, inhaling the aroma of her fragrant hair as he caressed her back.

"Eren!"

The survey scout looked up to see his childhood friend, his cousin, and his adopted sister running towards him.

"Mikasa? Armin? Johnny?"

"It is you! I thought you were dead! How did you survive that explosion?!" Mikasa cried, as she tearfully embraced him.

"I'm surprised any of you are alive. Ranko, Ranma, and I weren't sure if the titans had over run the interior wall. I also thought the explosion might have killed you, Mikasa," Ryoga replied.

"I heard what happened to Aunt Carla. I'm sorry," Johnny said as he gave his cousin a hug.

"Yeah, I've gotten over that a long time ago, but thanks," Ryoga said dourly.

"Why did Ranma call you Ryoga?" Armin asked.

Then Ryoga explained everything that had happened to him including turning into a rabbit and Jusenkyo.

"I find that hard to believe," Armin replied.

"Well, it's true. The world outside these walls is vaster than you thought it was, Armin," Ryoga replied.

"You lived in another universe? Is that where you decided to change your name and put your hair into a bandana?" Mikasa asked.

"That's where I acquired these things, yes. The name Ryoga stuck to the point that my name's Ryoga Yeager now."

"I hope you learned not to take on someone more powerful than you while you were in those other places," Mikasa said with a knowing look.

"I have. But with all the martial arts training I've done, I'm a lot stronger than I ever was. I can even take on a titan."

"I thought you said you had learned not to underestimate your opponents," Mikasa replied with a smile.

"So you, Ranko, and Ranma know each other," Armin recounted.

"That's right," Ryoga answered, putting arms around Mikasa, Armin, and Johnny with his eyes getting moist.

"How did you get so huge?" Mikasa asked, looking upwards at her brother.

"I've done some gravity increased training. And the Jusenkyo spring I fell into made me an ideal man, increasing my physical abilities."

"Why don't we go to a restaurant and have something to eat? We can catch up then and there," Armin suggested.

"We can go to Spatenhaus!" Ranko announced.

"Spatenhaus? That place is expensive," Mikasa said.

"Don't worry about it, Mikasa. Ranma and I can afford it." Ranko then looked upon the longer haired redhead for approval until Ranma replied.

"All right. We'll live a little and celebrate just this once. But let's keep the fact that you and I are in the military a secret, all right, Ranko?"

"Sure, Ranma. Let's go!" Ranko said as she took Armin by the arm and made their way to the restaurant until another cadet appeared out of nowhere.

"Spatenhaus?! Can I come too, pleeeaaase?!" Sasha/Potato Girl begged with puppy eyes that looked up towards Ranma and Ranko.

"Potato Girl came out of nowhere! How was she able to do that?!" Johnny exclaimed, shocked at the girl's appearance.

"All right, Sasha. I'm feeling in a charitable mood," Ranma answered as she motioned for the newcomer to come with them.

XXX

The next day, Ranko and several other newly commissioned soldiers were standing on the top of Wall Rose along with the canons there poised to attack any oncoming titans.

"You're joining the Survey Corps?" Johnny incredulously asked one of the cadets.

"That's right! A guy's allowed to change his mind, isn't he?!" the Connie Springer answered. Connie Springer was a lightly tanned, young man with a shaved head and a light build, standing at five feet two inches tall weighing 128 pounds.

"He's not the only one. That speech of Armin's inspired a whole lot of us," Thomas replied, making his way forward.

Thomas Wagner was a young man with light brown eyes, short blonde, curly hair, and sideburns with a medium height and build.

"That's right. I feel the same way," Mina Carolina confirmed.

"Armin gave a great speech. I'm happy to see he's inspired so many people to join the scouts. At this rate, we'll win this war against the titans yet!" Ranko chimed in.

"Oh, don't exaggerate things, Ranko. I suppose you're gonna join the scouts because of Armin's speech?" Connie said over his shoulder, regarding the fiery redhead.

"I was going to join the scouts long before I heard Armin talk, but I like his attitude," Ranko said with a smile.

"That's not all you like from what I've seen," Mina said with a coy look.

"Hey, everybody!" Sasha called out, walking towards the others while brandishing rolled, tied up pork in her hands. "I was able to steal some meat from the officers' mess hall."

"Are you trying to get locked up, Sasha, or should I call you Potato Girl? Put it back!" Connie demanded.

"He's right. With all the land we've lost, meat has become pretty valuable," Mina Carolina piped in.

"I'll put it away. Later on we can have pork sandwiches," Sasha said with a little bit of drool around her mouth.

"Didn't you get enough pork cutlets and a whole lot of other stuff yesterday, Sasha? As much as you ate last night, I figured you'd have had your fill," Ranko said with one eyebrow raised.

"I enjoyed all the victuals of that meal so much that I wanted more," Sasha said, more drool coming out of her mouth as the memory of that feast filled her mind.

FLASHBACK

The group of six had enjoyed a sumptuous meal at the very expensive, high end restaurant the other day with Sasha out eating everybody else there. She had taken full advantage of the free meal and pigged out. Going so far as to order food she hadn't had in years like trout, prosciutto, lamb chops, and other meats. It had gotten to the point that Ranko and Ranma had played rock-paper-scissors to determine which of them would pay for Sasha's part of the meal, Ranko having lost.

"_And here I thought my grandfather could eat like a horse,"_ Ranko thought to herself as she imagined how high the bill would be.

When Ranko and Ranma paid for the meal in gold coins, many of the other patrons of the restaurant made the assumption that Ranko and Ranma were "other women" of the rich and powerful and were simply partying with friends. Others suspected they were merchants of the black market. Despite the looks of contempt and the snooty waiters, the group had had a great time at their impromptu reunion dinner.

FLASHBACK ENDED

"I want me some of that!" Thomas announced.

"If he gets some, so do I!" Connie said with a sudden change of mind.

"After we've finished eating this, we can look forward to taking the land back from the titans. Then there will be more land for livestock," Sasha said happily.

"Way to go, Potato Girl!" Ranko agreed.

"All right, everybody, we need to get back to work before we get in trouble," Marco interjected, prompting everyone to go back to their posts on the wall.

As Johnny looked over the wall at the populated city below with a sense of brimming confidence, he relaxed and breathed in the clean air. Then he heard what sounded like a flash of lightning. Upon quickly turning around, he saw a sight to behold.

XXX

While Ranko and Johnny were on the top of Wall Rose, Ranma had found herself assigned to a fuel storage unit in a large building that was pointy shaped on the top. Her immediate superior was Sergeant Metalisch who was the main assistant to Captain Wellman.

Ranma was making certain all of the gas tanks for the dimensional movement gear were full and fully operational while making sure the blades for taking on the titans were sharp and unbroken. Upon the end of Ranma's inspection, everything was in fine working order.

"It's nice to see you working so hard, but why take this so seriously?" Sergeant Metalisch , the giant of a man who stood head and shoulders over everyone around him, said. He had fair skin and a crop of bright red hair on the top of his otherwise bald head. His broad shouldered frame was imposing as his dark shades regarded Ranma, covering the hungry look in his eyes.

"It's very important I do this job correctly, Sergeant. We never know when an emergency might arise," Ranma answered pertly, making every effort to keep herself restrained as the hulking presence and garlic breath of the sergeant made her skin crawl.

"There's no need to be so formal, baby. I like your style and your gorgeous body. If you're real nice to me, I might be able to get you a job in the interior."

"No thank you, Sergeant. I'm joining the Recon Corps," Ranma answered as she glided on the floor away from an attempt of the large man to put his hands on her derriere.

"The Reconnaissance Corps?! Are you trying to get yourself killed? What a waste it would be for that sweet ass of yours to get devoured by some unappreciative titan. When all you'd have to do is service me in order to get a life of ease."

"Sergeant! I'm joining the Survey Corps so that I might take the fight to the titans. And for the time being, I'm going to do my duty!"

Metalisch was put aback. No woman had ever talked to him that way! However, he knew Ranma was the most skilled fighter of the 104th training squad. He had even heard a rumor that she had the ability to make a blade of fire appear in her hands out of thin air, so he decided to play it cool. Besides, there were other women to whom he could lie and get what he wanted.

"Your loss, sweet cheeks. You know where to find me if you ever change your mind," the sergeant said upon doing an about face, walking over to a blond haired girl working behind a desk.

"_What a jerk! I was ten seconds away from knocking that guy over Wall Rose! What was he thinking?!" _

XXX

Johnny and some of the others were blown back, falling towards the ground on the wall as if a huge bomb had gone off.

"Aaaaaah!" one of the soldiers screamed as he fell down towards the city below, prompting Ranko to swoop down after him.

"I got ya, Samuel. Now snap out of it! I have to help the others!" Ranko demanded as the soldier got his bearings. After getting the shaken soldier to use his own 3DMG gear to right himself, she flew off catching others who had fallen.

"_How is she doing that? She's not even using her gear."_

"Everybody use your 3DMG equipment and get it together!" Ranko demanded.

Johnny noticed what Ranko was doing with a sigh of relief. Then he used his own 3DMG to climb his way back up.

"Whoa!" Johnny announced upon seeing the Colossal Titan who stood at 200 feet tall being devoid of any skin and being completely bald. He was even so large as to be able to look over the huge wall. Then to the boy's surprise, he raised his hand and mowed down the canons on the top of the wall, knocking them over.

"It's the Colossal Titan. Time to end this threat once and for all!" Johnny screamed as he leaped over the wall and used his gear to embed a grappling hook into the titan's hide, allowing him to swing over to the nape of his neck. However, the unusually intelligent titan grabbed the cord and tossed Johnny upwards end over end away from the wall!

"Yeow!" As Johnny flew, he remembered the lessons taught to him by Ranko and Ranma whom he had seen fly a few times. Upon concentrating, he slowed his momentum and kicked his legs as if he was swimming which helped to propel him back down to wall. When he was close enough, he shot a beam into the titans back, tugging on the line to ricochet his way back towards the titan whom he saw kick a huge hole in the wall as he had done five years previously.

"Nooo!" Despite Johnny's high emotional state, he calmed himself down. Then he swung a whole lot faster towards the nape of the titan's neck with his blades at hand. However, as he was about to strike, the Colossal Titan vanished into so much white smoke. Thus it was impossible to see anything for a couple of seconds. And as Johnny made his way back, he sensed the presence of someone.

"_Who's that down there? He's too small to be a titan."_

"Johnny, are you out there?!" the boy heard someone call out to him.

"I'm right here, Ranko!"

"Were you flying? I thought you weren't interested in the more esoteric aspects of the martial arts. How did you learn how to do that so quickly?" Ranko asked in surprise.

"I wasn't really flying, not for too long anyway. Even though I had no desire to go crashing into a rock or put my hands into the fire, I was really interested in your flying abilities. I've even attempted to practice it a few times. So I guess you've taught me more than you realized," Johnny said as he shot out another line into the wall and swung his way back towards the top of the wall.

"I'm proud of you, Johnny. But be prepared to give a report on what you saw. The high command's liable to send someone over here at any moment, especially since the wall of the Trost District has been breached!" Ranko called out anxiously.

"Right!"

XXX

"You're doing that pretty well, Armin. I'm pleased with how steady your hands are," Ranko commented as the boy worked with gas canisters at headquarters.

"Thanks, but I'm still concerned about the eight meter hole in the wall the Colossal Titan made. The biggest problem is the fact that it takes time to fix something like that. There's a giant sized boulder designed to block the entry several yards from the hole, but we haven't gotten around to figuring out how to move it yet," Armin replied.

"We'll figure something out," Ranko replied confidently.

"With that gaping hole unfilled, the town will be put in jeopardy and have to be abandoned. After that, it's a matter of time before the main wall of Wall Rose is breached too. For all we know the armored titan will show up again," Armin replied.

"Hmm, maybe Ryoga's strong enough to move that rock into the place we need it to be," Ranko replied.

"That rock weighs over 100 tons! How could Ryoga be that strong?" Armin countered.

"I can tell by looking at him, that Ryoga's extremely strong. I've also seen him take on titans almost as big as the Colossal Titan. At any rate, I'm sure you'll figure something out, Armin."

"Hmm. It's quite possible to use a lever to push that boulder into place. Then so much strength wouldn't be needed."

"I see what you're saying, but where would we find a lever big enough?" Ranko asked.

"Is it possible that you or Ranma could fly up and over the walls in order to find such a lever? With all the destruction of the Shiganshina District and Wall Maria, there oughtta be something big enough."

"Good point, Armin. As soon as possible, I'll go and see if there's such a lever available."

XXX

Later on, most of the military were standing before the headquarters building, waiting for their assignments. The District of Trost was a thumb shaped area that jutted out of Wall Rose, having a wall of its own that had been breached by the Colossal Titan. For safety reasons, the district was being evacuated of all civilians.

"Listen up, soldiers!" Captain Fitz Wellman of the garrison troops ordered. Kitz Wellman was a tall man with brown hair, a beard, a mustache, a stern appearance, and beady little eyes.

"The front guard will be assigned to the stationary troops. The middle guard will work for the training corps under our command. And the rear guard will serve under the stationary troops' elite guard."

"_What a windbag. I hope Ranma hasn't lost her temper working for that guy,"_ Ranko thought to herself.

"It's time for us to earn our keep, thus we'll protect Wall Rose with our very lives until every civilian has escaped to safety. Furthermore, as all of you are aware, if any of you flee in front of the enemy, you will be subject to capital punishment. You're sacrificing your lives so make sure they count. Dismissed!"

"Sir!" the soldiers said with their customary salute.

XXX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Sorry for the long time between updates, but I think I finally got this going the way I want it. Enter a review and click those alert and favorite buttons. Thanks you for all of your support.


	7. Battle for Trost

Attack on Ranma

Chapter Seven

"_THOUGHTS"_

XXX

While the soldiers in front of the headquarters building relaxed after having stood at attention, Mikasa rushed towards Armin. "If things get hectic, I want you to come find me; I'll protect you."

"Don't worry about me, Mikasa. I can take care of myself."

"I know you've learned a few tricks from Ranma and Ranko the way I have, but are you sure about that?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I'll be all right."

Mikasa looked up and noticed how much stronger Armin had become since entering boot camp. He had even gotten taller than her, having been shorter than her when the both of them had started their training. His beautiful, sunny blond hair had grown past his shoulders, making him look sort of like a barbarian. Then she turned towards Johnny.

"Oh, don't worry about me either. I'll be all right!" the boy stammered.

"Trainee Mikasa!"

"Sir!" the scarfed girl snapped to attention.

"I need you in the rear guard," a lieutenant ordered.

Lieutenant Dietrich was tall and slender with short cropped, sandy blond hair and a commanding presence as he motioned for Mikasa to come with him.

"I don't think…"

"I didn't ask your opinion, trainee. We need the best we have near where the civilian population is evacuating. Now move!"

While the lieutenant marched towards another person, Armin spoke up. "I'll be all right, Mikasa. I told you that I didn't want to be protected."

"All right, Armin. Stay safe. You too, Johnny."

"I'll be fine. Go off and do what you need to do, Mikasa."

Then the lieutenant came back with Ranko and a couple others in tow. "All right. We're all set. Let's go!"

"Take care, Armin!" Ranko called out, blowing the love of her life a kiss as she and the others left for the main entrance of Wall Rose.

Armin waved back then he turned around to see many of his fellow trainees mostly regarding Johnny then himself as well.

"Listen up, Johnny. You guys aren't the only one applying for the scouting legion," Mina Carolina stated with her hands on her hips.

"Johnny got ahead of us, but we won't let him beat us this time around. I declare the titan killing contest officially started."

"All right, Thomas. You're on! Let's do this! Titan killing contest has started! But be sure I'll do everything I can to win!" Johnny affirmed.

XXX

Minutes later, a sergeant led Armin, Johnny, and his group of fellow trainees towards the titans coming out of the hole that the Colossal Titan created earlier in the Trost District. Then they shot off into the direction of danger, swinging through the air using their 3DM gear over the houses in the area.

"There they are!" one of the trainees called out upon seeing dozens of titans making their way around the town towering over the buildings there.

"They're incorporating us into the front guard already?"

"So many titans! The front guard must have been overwhelmed!" Mina exclaimed upon the sight.

The guys in the front guard were so quick to act tough, but they've already had their heads handed to them!" Thomas said as they all shot forward.

"Look out! It's an abnormal! It's coming our way!" Johnny screamed.

Out of nowhere, a titan flew in the air towards them. Most of the group scattered out of the way, but one of them got caught!

"Ungh!"

"Thomas!" Armin called out as he turned back towards the titan that had him half way in his mouth.

Thomas stared into space hopelessly as the horror of his situation became clear to him. While the titan held onto the building he slowly sucked Thomas in until he noticed something coming towards him.

"What are you doing, Armin? There's nothing we can do for him now! Come back!" the sergeant ordered to no avail.

Then the sergeant noticed Johnny flying off after him. "Wait! Come back!"

"Hold on, Thomas!"

At an uncanny speed, surprising both Thomas and the titan who saw Armin and Johnny shooting off for him, Armin swung his way towards the nape of the titan's neck and sliced it off. Then he made a well-placed kick that forced the dying titan to open his mouth, letting his captive free.

"I gotcha! Go limp, Thomas!" Johnny announced as he caught the falling soldier.

"How did you do all that?" Thomas asked.

"It's a long story. But we still have work to do, so let's get cracking," Armin countered as Johnny let Thomas go as soon as he had figured he was all right. It turned out the titan really hadn't chomped on him all that much. As it was, it would have just swallowed him whole.

As the three of them made their way in the air back to the others, a large, opening, teeth filled mouth came streaming up towards them.

"Look out!" Thomas screamed in terror.

"I see it. Move to your right. I'll handle it," Armin commanded, shoving Thomas to the side as he shot upwards, turning up the gas of his 3DM gear, allowing him to avoid the chomping teeth. Then as the titan came down, Armin maneuvered himself behind the creature, spinning around with his blades and slicing through the nape of its neck.

"AAAGGGHH!"

Despite Armin's success, some of the others weren't doing so well. Mina Carolina had gotten ahead of the others only to have a titan take hold of her 3DMG line and swing it, slamming her against the wall of a building. And as she stood up from the ground, leaning on the wall and got her bearings, another titan with large eyes and shoulder length, black hair walked over to her, leaning down, regarding her. Then it reached out for her as she stood there like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Mina, snap out of it!" Armin screamed as he came flying through the air at an uncanny speed, gas shooting out of his 3DM gear. After having gotten the titan's attention, it took grasping swings at Armin, missing the fast moving target.

"_How is he maneuvering like that so quickly? Did Ranko and Ranma teach him that? I wish I had started learning from them sooner,"_ Mina thought to herself in a daze while Armin took out the titan that had come very close to eating her alive.

"Snap out of it, Mina! There are more titans coming!" Armin demanded as he touched down right next to her and shook her.

"Oh, yes. Thank you."

"Did you ever learn how to lower your gravity?" Armin asked, his intense eyes boring into her.

"A little bit. I mostly learned a lot about hand to hand combat and how to fly and swing faster than normally. That's why I got ahead of the others. I never got to putting my hands into flame and having a rock smash into me like you did."

"All right. I…"

"Nooo! Nooo! Please don't. I don't want to die!" someone screamed as a titan with an enlarged head took hold of him and moved its victim towards his mouth.

"Gotta go!" Armin immediately took off, minimizing his gravity in order to move faster through the air. As the creature was about to place the squad member in its mouth, Armin kicked it below its jaw, stunning it. As the titan's eyes turned towards the source of the attack, Mina had catapulted over to it and sliced through the nape of its neck ending its existence.

"Good work, Mina! Now let's see who else needs help," Armin commented after gliding downwards and catching the soldier that had fallen upon the titan's death.

"Thanks. Um." The rescued squad member was rather tall and broad shouldered with short clipped brown hair.

"You're welcome. Now keep your weapons aimed. Push down your fear. And be ready to fight!" Inside of himself, Armin thanked Ranma and Ranko for all of their painful training which was paying off at the moment. For all he knew he'd be frozen in fear like some of his comrades.

Then another large titan that resembled an old man with a beard and long hair stomped their way towards them.

"Oh, no!" a frightened scout screamed.

"I got it!" Thomas called out, coming from behind it and slashing the nape of its neck with his blades, killing it.

"Good job, Thomas! There are more on the way!"

"No problem, Armin. When I said I wouldn't let you get ahead of me in killing titans, I meant it."

"All right. Let's go. I'm taking the lead."

"Hold it, cadet. I'm in charge here," the sergeant affirmed as he made his way to them with a few others behind him.

"Sir, it would be best if…"

"Belay that, cadet. You're welcome to come along, but I need to see what's going on ahead. I'm happy to see you've done a good job so far. Keep up the good work and I'll recommend you for promotion, but I'm running things from here on out."

"Yes, sir."

As the group moved forward on their 3DM gear, Connie Springer swung right next to Armin.

"So you might get a promotion, eh? Your girlfriend at boot camp really knew her stuff. I wish I had paid more attention to those Karanese girls."

"That's right. We Karanese are the best!" Mina shouted out.

"Quit acting like you're all that. It was Ranma and Ranko who made a man out of Armin and a few others," Ymir said from a few feet behind her.

"Aren't you the one who called anyone who listened to them a rube? Who's the rube now?" Mina replied with her eyes narrowed at the other girl.

"What?! Why you…"

"Quite back there! More titans are coming!" the sergeant barked.

XXX

"What's wrong with you people?! I don't think you understand the scope of the situation!" one of the civilians near an opened gate to the inside of Wall Rose called out with over a hundred people behind him as the men who were at the gate shoved someone who had tried to get through called out.

A short, middle aged balding man with a mustache and beard had a group of very large men behind him. They had a large wagon filled with goods on it. They had been trying to shove the larger than life wagon through the opening, but the space was too tight of a fit. Thus the people who were trying to get through had halted. However, the crowd was growing and getting restless.

"I understand the situation perfectly. If you want to make it out of here alive, then quit your belly aching and help!" the middle aged man demanded with a wave of his hand.

"All right, what's going here?" Ranko said as she touched down in between the crowd and the man in charge of the wagon.

"You're a soldier. Do something!" someone from the crowd demanded, prompting Ranko forward.

"You wanna try something, little lady? I'm the president of the merchant's guild. I finance what you and your comrades eat and drink."

"That's nice, Pops, but you need to move that wagon out of the way. Many soldiers are dying in order to allow these people to get to safety. Now move it or lose it!" Ranko ordered, raising her voice and staring down the high class merchant.

"What?! How dare you talk to me that way?!" the merchant threatened, walking backwards and motioning his men forward.

"Get her. Get her! Get her!"

The four, king-sized henchmen with broad shoulders and large hands charged forward, prompting Ranko to do the same. However, Ranko moved faster, striking the closet one in his solar plexus then passing him by. Then she kicked another one in his Achilles tendon with her heel as she moved by him with unseen speed. Before the third one knew what was happening, Ranko was right in front of him, vanishing as soon as she had tapped throat. By the time she had passed by the fourth one she had already touched the nape of his neck. Upon the end of her exertions, Ranko was face to face with the merchant once again.

"What the… How did you do all that?" the merchant exclaimed upon seeing his men crumple to the ground.

"I'm very skilled. Now move the…"

"Mommy, look!" a little girl announced, pointing far behind them. The mother turned around to see a fifty foot, rotund titan sprinting towards them, rocking his head to the right and to the left with a goofy smile on his face. He really wasn't paying too much attention to his surroundings, but he was headed straight for the crowd at the exit out of the district.

"It's coming this way!" the crowd screamed as they began to panic.

"Looks like this is a job for…" However, Ranko's statement left her lips unfinished as Mikasa flew towards the abnormal titan, attaching a line to it and zipped over to it, slicing the nape of its neck and sending it crashing to the ground in a smoldering heap a few feet away from the panicked crowd.

"What's going on here?!" Mikasa demanded, standing on the carcass of the downed titan.

"Get that wagon out of here before I hurt you. That titan could have killed everyone here!" Ranko demanded sharply.

"Is that so? One word to your commanding officer and you'll be court martialed," the high and mighty merchant snapped back.

Ranko had had enough! She grabbed the merchant by the throat and easily picked him up, choking him.

"Move it or lose it, Pops! You got me?" the girl said as her blue eyes bored into him.

"Ulp! All right. Let me go!"

At that point, Ranko dropped the man to the ground, glaring at him as he crawled away from her.

"All right, move the wagon," the merchant ordered his men as he got up.

"That took too long, Ranko," Mikasa said as she leaped off of the dead titan and landed right next to her.

"You might be right, but I was trying to get things going without too much violence," Ranko answered as the crowd horded through the open gate.

"Since when has too much violence been a problem for you, Ranko?" Mikasa said with a chuckle.

"Very funny."

"Thank you for saving our lives," a little girl said, walking over towards Ranko and Mikasa with admiration as her mother stood behind her.

Then both Ranko and Mikasa saluted in unison. "Just doing our jobs."

XXX

After everyone had been evacuated, Ranko and Mikasa stood before Lieutenant Dietrich when it had started to rain a little.

"Good work, you two. All the civilians have been evacuated," Dietrich said as the stone gate to the main part of Wall Rose lowered.

"If everything's clear at this end, I'd like to get back to the vanguard. I'm sure our comrades could use all the help they can get right now," Ranko said out loud.

"I don't think…" Before the lieutenant could finish his sentence, Mikasa took off.

"Wait, Mikasa!"

"I better get after her, sir. Mikasa, wait for me!"

XXX

In the main headquarters building where the supplies of swords and gas canisters were kept, Captain Kitz Wellman and a couple dozen of his immediate assistants including Sergeant Metalisch were about to flee the soon-to-become-titan-infested-area when the supply soldiers there stood between them and the exit.

"Captain, please wait! There aren't enough of us here! If the titans attack us in force, we won't stand a chance!" Corporal Tina Klinger pleaded.

"Out of my way, soldier. My expertise is needed to direct the reinforcements," Captain Wellman said, his eyes darting to the side.

"Behind the safety of the inner gate? Am I right?" Private Keitel said with a look of contempt.

At that point, a look of shock and indignation appeared on the captain's face. "What are you trying to imply, soldier?! They need my help reorganizing. Or would you rather we get overwhelmed due to a logistical disaster?!" the captain yelled with his normally beady eyes widening.

While this was going on, Sergeant Metalisch strutted over to Ranma who was leaning back against a nearby wall partly in the shadows with her arms folded on her chest. She was breathtaking with her pigtailed hair silhouetted against the light. How he wanted her!

"Hey, sweet cheeks. Now's the time for you to take me up on my offer. If you stick around here, you'll liable to get eaten."

The giant of a man made a grab for her ass, but Ranma simply glided to her left out of his reach.

"I'm not going anywhere with you, sergeant. I have my duty here. Besides, you just want to make a meal out of me yourself."

The large man's eyebrows rose in surprise. "You got some sass in you. I like that. But after I devoured you, you'd still be alive. In fact you'd enjoy me. I'd be a lot gentler than any titan," the sergeant answered her in a low voice.

"No thanks, Sergeant. Now run along before your friends leave you behind."

"How dare you refuse me?!"

"I said forget it! Besides, the captain's about to depart." Then Ranma turned towards the Captain and the supply crew.

"Sir, if we lose the supplies here…"

"That's enough! Question my orders again or delay me in my duties, and I'll run your treasonous hide straight through!" the captain shouted, drawing out his blade at the neck of the corporal who had pleaded for him and his men to stay with them.

Then Ranma strolled towards the doors and opened them wide. "All right, Captain. If you need to go so badly, then go. We'll handle things here."

The captain and his men walked out of there, with the captain giving Ranma a sharp, narrowed eyed look. However, as the sergeant was about to leave, he opened his mouth to say some more things to the pigtailed girl when someone else called out to him.

"Wait, Sergeant!" a beautiful, buxom woman with long blond hair and a striking figure yelled as she ran over to him. "Take me with you!"

"Sorry, babe, you're old news."

"Old news?! You said if I let you do what you wanted to me that you'd get me to the safety of the inner walls."

"Oh, about that. I lied. But hey, being with you was fun. I really enjoyed you, but now it's over."

"What?! You can't treat me like that!" the woman protested, only to be back handed away to the ground.

"I can treat you in any way I want! Now get away from me! That's an order!" Then he pointed at Ranma.

"And you, you bitch! You blew a good thing. Die with these schmucks if you want." With that, the sergeant stormed out, leaving the gorgeous woman on the floor crying.

After they had left, Ranma shut the doors. "Good riddance. It's not as if we needed them anyway."

"But what are we going to do?" the corporal in charge cried out.

"We do what we're supposed to do. The soldiers out there need supplies, so we need to carry as many gas canisters and spare blades as we can. Some foodstuffs would be a good idea too."

"Out there?!' the corporal said.

"That's where everybody is, isn't it?"

"You're a mere cadet and you dare to give us orders?" Private Schultz stammered.

"We have our orders. If you want to stay here cowering, you go ahead. I'm going to go and supply the fighting soldiers out there."

"You've only been here for a short time and you seem fit to judge," Private Keitel said with a glare in Ranma's direction.

"I'm not judging; I'm taking action."

"Are you crazy?! You'll die out there!" another private exclaimed.

"No, I won't. I'm tough enough to take on whatever comes my way." Ranma then began to take as many supplies as she could carry. Then she made her way for the door.

"Wait!" the abandoned blond called out as if reaching out for her.

"Yes?" Ranma replied over her shoulders.

"I'm coming with you."

"I'm not going on a vacation. And I can't guarantee your safety. I also don't have time for cowards. What's your name?"

"I'm Elke Bauer. The last thing I want to do is to stay here, thinking how I got screwed. If titans gobble me up, that's what I get for being a dupe," Elke answered morosely, walking over to several gas canisters, blades, and other supplies, taking hold of them and putting them on herself.

"I'm ready. Let's go.

"All right, Elke. We're off. Anybody else want to come with us? There's only so much each of us can carry by ourselves."

The others looked at them without saying a word, so Ranma and Elke left.

XXX

As Mikasa and Ranko shot off for the vanguard of their forces, Ranko looked downward and noticed someone trying to administer first aid.

"I'll be right there, Mikasa. There's someone down there who needs help!"

"All right! Do what you have to do!" Mikasa responded as she shot off ahead.

As Ranko touched down, she saw, "Hannah! You have to get out of here! It's dangerous on the ground right now!"

"Ranko, you have to help me! It's Franz!"

"Let me see." Ranko looked down and noticed that there were teeth marks indented on the large, young man. As it was, he had practically bled out.

"He's barely alive, but I don't think there's anything else to be done. He's practically dead right now."

"You have to do something, please!" Hannah cried out in tears on her knees with her hands clasped together.

"I don't think…"

"Please!"

Against her better judgment, Ranko took out a small green bean from one of her pockets.

"What's that?"

"Shut up and let me concentrate!"

Ranko turned to the downed man and put her hand on his chest. Then she concentrated, pouring some of her chi into him.

"Listen, Franz. Don't make me waste this. I don't have a whole lot of these!" Ranko ordered as she placed the senzu bean in the man's mouth, grabbing his head and jaws, forcing him to chew on it. Then she took a water flask and poured the liquid down the man's throat.

"Cough! What the… I … What happened? Last I remember…" the man gasped as all of his injuries vanished. Then Ranko helped him up.

"Never mind that now! On your feet, soldier! We need to get going. Get your gear together!"

"Thank you," Hannah cried out in tears as she held the object of her desire in a vice like grip.

"You can thank me by following me. Let's go!" Then Ranko took to the skies in the direction Mikasa had gone as the couple followed after her.

XXX

"Hey, Armin, what are we going to do?! Surely, you learned something from your girlfriend that will get us out of this mess!" Jean demanded as he and some of the cadets were all but stranded on a rooftop over a dozen houses away from the supply depot.

"As it is, we're short on gas. Despite the order to withdraw, we can't go too far. Hmm, how far and high can some of you jump? I think we…"

"What?! Are you suggesting we jump from rooftop to rooftop until we get there? Don't you know there are loads of titans surrounding the area?! What are we going to do?! We're doomed! Connie complained as he paced back and forth with his arms raised in resignation.

"Yes, I know the situation, but…"

"It's all because of those lily livered cowards in the supply depot. What is going on? Where are they? Why aren't they here?!" Connie exclaimed.

"Come on, guys. Armin will think of something. Half of us are still here because of him," Mina announced cheerfully.

"It's strange how a pansy like Armin got balls by hanging around a couple of prissy girls," Jean said with a sneer.

"What's that supposed to mean?! Are you trying to say girls are weak or something?!" Ymir shouted out as she walked towards him.

"You know what I mean! Armin was a total wimp at the beginning of boot camp. He couldn't even tie his shoelaces right without Ranma or Ranko holding his hand. Now he thinks he's hotstuff because he took out a few titans. Big deal! I've taken on more!"

"Somehow, I doubt that! And I'm sick and tired of your belly aching!" Johnny countered, getting in Jean's face.

"Oh, yeah?! What are you going to do about, loudmouth?!"

"I'll knock your block off!"

"Enough with the arguing!" Thomas said, getting in between the two. Even Marco had put a restraining hand on Jean's shoulder.

"At any rate, we need to get over to HQ. The biggest problem is being short on gas. Then there's the fact that the soldiers of the supply depot have barricaded themselves in. Now the place is almost surrounded by titans," Armin surmised.

"Did someone say gas?!"

"Everybody turned to see, "Ranma! But how?"

"No time to explain, Armin," Ranma said as she put down Elke and all of the supplies they brought with them.

"You brought gas with you?!" Connie screamed, running over to them.

"Who's the other girl?" Jean announced, regarding her.

Oh, this is Elke. She's the only other person in the supply depot who had the guts to help me bring you what you guys needed. I don't know if I could have brought as much as I did without her help," Ranma commented with a thankful nod in the woman's direction.

"Huff! How did you manage to get us here so fast? I got tired just letting you carry me over here. It was like you flew over here!" Elke gasped in exhaustion as she put down the equipment she had placed on herself before they had left.

"Anyway, we should have enough gas for everybody. Anybody need extra blades? We brought some food with us too."

"Oh, goody!" Sasha announced, taking the proffered supplies and putting some of the food in her mouth.

"Don't eat it all, Sasha," Ranma said with a chuckle.

"How did you make it through all those titans and what happened with the others?" Jean enquired with a little bit of suspicion.

"You guys all know Captain 'Freakout' Wellman, don't you? Well, the first sign of trouble he and his goons took off running with their tails in between their legs," Ranma recounted.

"Yeah! And Sergeant Metalisch is a lying son of bitch and a coward on top of that!" Elke spat out with rage to the surprise of everyone else there.

"All right then. As soon as everybody has put some gas in their tanks and had a bite to eat, we can take off. The gas we got will last us for only so long. We still need to get to the main headquarters building and form a base of operations there. Then we can depart," Armin explained

"Who died and made you king?!" Jean demanded.

"The sergeant died and I'm taking over since I'm the smartest one here. You have a problem with that?" Armin said, regarding Jean with narrowed eyes.

"Why you…"

At that point, Mikasa arrived.

"Armin, Johnny, you're still alive!" Mikasa stated, running over to him and giving the boy a hug. Then she gave Johnny a hug as well.

A few moments later, Ranko arrived with Hannah and Franz right behind her.

"So the gang's all here. Now what's the plan?!" Ranko enquired.

"As soon as you and the others have gotten some gas in your tanks, we're gonna take back the main headquarters."

"We haven't decided that, Armin!"

"Armin's plan is well thought out. We should follow it," Ranma said.

"Makes sense to me," Ranko replied.

"If it makes sense to Ranko, it makes sense to me!" Hannah confirmed with a grateful nod in Ranko's direction.

"We're done. The longer we wait, the more titans will surround the area. We need to leave now," Mikasa stated.

"I'm just a desk jockey. I don't know how to use the 3DM gear," Elke practically sobbed as she sauntered over to Franz.

"You look big and strong. Do you think you could carry me over there, please?" the sexy woman asked, taking hold of him and rubbing up against him.

"Yeah, sure. I've never felt better in my whole life!" Franz breathed in as the girl climbed on his back and held on to him tightly.

"Wait, I don't think that's a good idea. Franz has just recovered from some serious injuries," Hannah protested upon seeing the gorgeous girl wrap herself around him.

"There's no time for arguments. Let's go!" Armin ordered, raising his hand as most everybody there cheered.

As the group shot off for the main objective, a titan jumped up and took hold of one of them.

"Nooo! Let me go!" the girl screamed.

"Quit the screaming. I'm here!" Ranko called out as she doubled back, whipping out her ki blades and slicing off the hand that held the girl.

"I got her Ranko," Ranma said from behind.

"Thanks." Then Ranko flew right behind the behemoth, slicing off the back of its neck, sending it crashing to the ground.

"Oh, thank you," the girl sobbed out.

"Don't thank us yet. There's still a ways to go," Ranma said as she took her aloft.

"It might be better if you and Ranma took off to either side of us. Then you can come in and back up whomever needs it." Armin suggested as he swung near them.

"Good idea, Armin. Ranko, take the right flank; I'll take the left," Ranma said.

"Affirmative!"

"I'm not as good as you girls, but I'll take the center!" Johnny called out.

"How are they doing all that?!" Jean asked.

"There's no time for explanations. Let's go! Mikasa's getting too far ahead of us!" Armin shouted.

"Uh, oh!" Ranko said from her vantage point. Then she shot off!

"How is she moving so fast?!" Jean shouted out.

"Never mind that now!"

"Lookout, Mikasa!" Ranko screamed as she made a ki sword appear in her hands and threw it at the abnormal titan flying towards her comrade.

"Huh?" Mikasa looked back to see a titan in the air a few yards behind her getting the nape of its neck sliced by a rotating, flying blade.

"Watch your back, Mikasa! And slow down!" Ranma called out from above, prompting Mikasa to wave in confirmation.

On the other flank, Ranma looked down, noticing that most everybody was well on their way to the headquarters building until a large bellied titan with shoulder length hair grabbed one of them who was right behind Jean and Marco.

"Lookout!"

"Aaaaaaaaggh!"

"I'm on my way!" Ranma swooped down like a dive bomber with such speed that she was on top of the titan in seconds slicing the back of its neck as the ki claws of her wolverine fist stretched out to ten feet. Then she caught the soldier who was falling to the ground inside of the dead titan's hand.

"We're almost there, kid! Quit your screaming already. You sound more like a girl than I do!"

"I'm sorry! Thank you!" Ranma's passenger gasped as he trembled, holding on to Ranma and looking up at her like a child holding on to his mother. He looked younger than his years, being rather cute with a baby face, black, medium length hair, and soft blue eyes.

Moments later, Jean went crashing through the windows with many of the men behind him. In time most of them had made it through all right.

"We're here, kid. You can let go now," Ranma said to her passenger.

"Um, yes," the boy gasped, his trembling hands still grasping his rescuer.

"Hey, watch the hands! I'm ticklish!" Ranma giggled.

"Huh?"

"If you weren't frightened half way to death, you'd really have something to be afraid of! It's bad enough you had to scream so loud, but do you have to feel me up too?" Ranma said, noticing her passenger grasping her body for dear life.

"I'm so sorry! Forgive me, please!" the boy apologized, practically getting on his hands and knees, blushing upon realizing where his hands were.

"All right. I'll forgive you this once. Now relax," Ranma said, giving her former passenger a calming look.

"We're safe. You can let go of him now," Hannah said dourly in regards to Elke who was still holding on to Franz like a vice.

"Oh, yes," Elke giggled as Franz let her down. Then she stood up on her tippy toes to give him a kiss in gratitude until she found herself hauled backwards, restrained by Hannah.

"A simple thank you will do."

"Oh, thank you so much."

Ranko chuckled to herself as she saw what happened. "You better get away from him, Elke. Hannah's fiercer than a titan when it comes to her man!"

"That's right!" Hannah confirmed, regarding Elke with a glare that caused the blond to cower backwards.

After many of the ones who had made it chuckled and laughed, the sobs of two people crouching under the desks became evident.

"Well, what have we here?" Ranma said as she looked down on the other members of the supply depot.

"How did you…"

"I told you I'd make it back. I brought some friends with me too."

"Wait?! You guys are the other members of the supply team?! You stayed here while Ranma and Elke did all of the heavy lifting?!" Jean screamed as he snatched one of the supply depot soldiers out of his hiding place and shook him hard.

"Take it easy, Jean!" Marco said as he held him back.

"You cowards! People are dead because you didn't have the guts to do your job! Are Ranma and Elke the only ones who aren't worthless?!"

"The titans were coming at us from every angle! Some of them even made it to the supplies room. There was nothing we could do!" the corporal in charge cried out.

"You should have worked something out! It was your job!" Jean screamed as Marco still held him down.

"How many of us made it?" Armin asked no one in particular.

"There were a few people neither Ranko, Ranma, nor I could help, Armin, but considering the circumstances we did pretty well."

"Thanks, Johnny, but I still…"

All of a sudden a loud thumping could be heard.

"Take coverrrrr!"

"Aaaargh!" a soldier screamed as he went flying forward upon a wall being smashed through.

"There's too many of us here. We're attracting them," Armin said.

"We'll simply have to get out of here. Don't give up hope yet!" Ranko announced as many of them ran screaming for the exit.

"You can count on me, Ranko. What's the plan?" Hannah said with Franz right behind her.

"We'll need to evacuate this building in an organized…" Ranko paused as she looked up and noticed two titans staring at everyone through the hole they had just made. Then she saw a large hammer smashing through the heads of the titans regarding them.

"It's Ryoga!" Ranko shouted.

"Ryoga?" Mikasa exclaimed, turning around.

"Yes, that's his ki weapon!" Ranko said in relief.

"If that's him we better go out there and give him a hand. You guys can handle things from here, can't you, Armin, Johnny?"

"We'll be all right, Ranko," Johnny answered.

"It would be better if you stayed here and helped Armin and Johnny, Mikasa. The three of us have taken on titans together before. Banzai!" Ranko screamed as she leaped out the hole with Ranma right behind her.

"How is she doing that without falling?!" Jean said to no one in particular.

"We have some time. Let's calmly make our way downstairs," Armin ordered more than suggested.

"But what about the titans in the supply room? A titan ate one of us earlier before we were even able to get away from them up here!" the supply corporal said.

"I'm going down to the supply room myself. From there I can see for myself what's going on," Armin explained.

"What are you crazy?! There's no way, you could go down there alone without getting eaten!" Jean announced.

"I have stealth skills you know nothing about. The rest of you can make your way down the stairs a couple of floors above the supply room. After I've surmised the situation I'll meet you there." When he had finished talking, Armin simply disappeared.

"Where did he go?"

XXX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Be here next to find out how the titans were dealt with. And remember to review and click those favorite and alert links.


	8. Well Wishes for Wagner

Attack on Ranma

Chapter Eight

"_THOUGHTS"_

XXX

Armin had went down the stairs to the storage room ahead of everybody else, hiding in the shadows, turning on the umisen he had learned from Ranko.

It had taken a couple of years for Armin to master the technique, but upon seeing what was going on at the time, the training was well worth it.

"_I know I'm invisible, but I'm still going to be careful."_

As Armin skulked his way through, a titan looked in his direction for a moment then turned from him and walked around aimlessly.

"_That was close! Now I need to get to the ceiling so I can see exactly how many titans are here."_

Armin stealthily walked up the walls until he reached the top. _"There are a total of seven down here. After I've made sure no more of them can get in here, I'll make my way back up to the third floor."_

XXX

"Who's this Ryoga guy?!" Reiner called out as Armin met them as they left the elevator lift that had brought them down to the third floor.

"He's a childhood friend. He's also in the Survey Corps, but it's a good thing he was able to get here," Johnny answered.

"How did he get here so quickly? Last I heard the survey scouts were on a mission outside the walls," Berthold commented.

"Really?! How did you know that, Berthold? There wasn't any public knowledge of them going out on another mission!" Johnny announced, looking at the taller man curiously with Thomas behind him, regarding him as well.

"Um, well. I just heard something about that from somewhere," Berthold answered nervously, his eyes darting back and forth.

"Anyway!" Reiner interjected. "What are we going to do about the titans in the supply room?"

"We've found some rifles in the area boxed up. I think they're still in working order," Marco said as he, Jean, and some others brought in some boxes of guns and ammunition.

"I don't know if they'll do any good against the titans though," Jean explained.

"It's better than nothing," Armin commented as everybody there started putting gunpowder and bullets inside the guns.

"How are we going to do this? And how many are down there?" a soldier asked no one in particular.

"Seven."

"How do you know that, Armin?" Jean asked.

"I was just down there."

"What?!"

"I have stealth skills that allowed me to hide in the shadows. I've counted their number already. I've also barred the outside doors and put up boxes of gunpowder that will blow up and warn us if any more of them show up," Armin responded.

"Let me guess. Ranma and Ranko taught you all that," Jean said.

"Yes, that's right. Now what we need to do is…"

"Wait a minute! If that's true you could have just left for the safety of the inner walls. Why didn't you do that?" Connie asked.

"I have no intention of abandoning you here. Now, we'll need to lower ourselves downward into the storage room while at least seven of the best of us walk down and hang near the roof, staying hidden while the people in the elevator shoot the titans in the eyes when they get close enough."

"How big were those titans?" Mina interjected.

"They're twenty-five to thirty feet tall. Then the seven chosen ones will leap down from the ceiling with their blades out and cut the titans down."

"I get it, Armin. Ultimately the risk is the same for those seven as it is for anybody else," Reiner confirmed.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I'm planning on being one of the seven," Armin replied with a look of fearlessness.

"We have enough people here who can do that, Armin. There's no point in risking you in this endeavor," Mikasa commented.

"That's right. If the plan doesn't work, you'll be here to think of something else," Connie said in agreement.

"All right. Let's go then."

XXX

"How did you know we were in trouble, Ryoga?" Ranma asked as she used her extended ki claws to slice through the nape of the neck of a particularly large titan.

"We were on our way back from a mission when I decided to fly up into the sky and see what was going on through my binoculars."

"I guess you freaked out upon seeing that new hole in the wall."

"I sure did."

"I'm sure you didn't freak out as much as Captain Freakout Wellman. That guy couldn't get out of town fast enough," Ranma said in commentary as she floated right by them.

"Was that overgrown excuse for a sergeant with him?" Ryoga asked.

"Yes. He practically undressed me with his eyes and hands, but I put him in his place," Ranma answered.

"If he puts his hands on you again, I'll put him in a coffin!"

FLASHBACK

"Buy the cleaning supplies and other things on this list," Levi ordered Ryoga as they stood in front of a market. Then he handed him a list, a basket, and some money.

"Yes, sir."

"I'll be back in a few minutes," Levi said as he left, walking out into the bustling street during the middle of the day.

As Ryoga walked inside the building of the market, he immediately became aware of the scents of all the products inside. He also found that the place was 100 by 100 feet with ten rows of all kinds of food and supplies. In a matter of minutes he had placed everything inside the basket. However, before he could make it towards the cashier with his money and merchandise, a group of garrison troops walked in and shoved their way past him, a few of the dozen or so men giving Ryoga a sharp glare as they passed by him.

The leader of the group made a beeline for the cute, friendly woman behind the counter, zeroing in on her impressive décolletage and long platinum hair.

"Hey, baby. How about going out with me?" the large man backed up by a dozen or so men who smirked wickedly.

"I'm sorry, sir. I have to work. Now what can I help you with today?" the attractive girl with a nice figure and pretty face said with a polite smile.

Then the giant sized sergeant glared at the saleswoman, making her shiver a little. "You don't understand, toots. It wasn't a request."

"Um, I'm sorry, but I have to…"

With a speed that belied his massive frame, the sergeant tore off the girl's tunic, baring her breasts for all to see. "What a nice rack! Am I right, boys?!"

"Yeah!" the men behind him chorused as the sobbing girl put her hands over herself.

"Excuse me! What do you think you're doing?!" Ryoga demanded, charging through all the underlings.

"Mind your business, little man!" the huge man with a crop of bright red hair on the top of his otherwise bald head snapped back.

Ryoga looked up to see the huge, mountain of a man staring down on him. "What did that girl do to you that you shame her like that?"

"You think you can interrupt me when I'm romancing a girl and get away with it?" the giant threatened.

"Romancing? It looked more like you were about to rape her," Ryoga replied with his eyes narrowed in on the larger man.

"What?! How dare you presume to judge me?"

While this was going on, the young woman tried to get away, but one of the sergeant's men stopped the cashier, taking hold of her and prying her arms from her torso.

"Keep her there, boys, while I deal with this arrogant survey scout."

"Arrogant?!" Ryoga exclaimed incredulously. Then he glared at the big man, unsettling him a bit.

The sergeant thought about the fact that his men were there watching so he decided the diatribe had gone on long enough. "Listen here, you olive greened fairy! I'm Sergeant Metalisch, the main man and I'm going to show you the error of your ways!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean I'm going to kick your sorry ass, you jerk! Nobody stands up to the main man!"

The sergeant and his cronies reminded Ryoga of the bullies he had faced when he was younger. He even reminded Ryoga of an android Goku from that other universe had fought. However, unlike those other times when Ryoga couldn't back up his courage, he was much stronger now.

"All right. Let's step outside."

After Ryoga had put down the supplies he had intended to buy, he walked outside with the sergeant and his men right behind him. And before Ryoga could turn around, the sergeant attacked!

Ryoga wasn't surprised by the roundhouse right. In fact, he had rather expected it. Thus he moved to his left, avoiding the blow.

"What the…"

"My turn." Ryoga spun around, striking his opponent in his broad chest with a fast forward punch, knocking him down.

"How did you move with so much speed?! Bah. No matter. You just got lucky. It won't happen again."

"It would be for the best if we stop fighting right now. As it is, I'm well capable of hurting you."

"Oh, really? You're not getting out of this until you're a bloody mess," the sergeant threatened as he got to his feet.

"Kick his ass, Sarge! We don't have all day!" one of the men behind him called out.

"Grrrr!" The giant charged Ryoga, hoping to pin him down so he could pummel him into submission, but Ryoga was too fast for him, moving out of the way, grabbing him, throwing him up into the air, and letting him go crashing to the ground.

"You might want to give up now," Ryoga said to his downed opponent.

"There's no way I'm giving up to a pipsqueak like you." The sergeant charged again, but this time Ryoga moved in on him with unseen speed, striking him in the jaw and knocking him out cold.

"Aaaarrgh!" the bigger man screamed as his body jerked upwards upon Ryoga's blow. Then it went crashing to the ground with a large thud.

"I take on titans bigger and stronger than you while you and your captain cower in the safety of these walls," Ryoga commented, standing over his defeated foe.

"How did he beat the sarge like that?" one of the men exclaimed.

"We can't let him get away with that. Get him, boys," the corporal yelled as he and the others surrounded Ryoga.

"All right. There's more than enough for all of you," Ryoga said upon cracking his knuckles. The group of thugs closed in until…

"Hold it!"

The garrison troops moved back as they saw Levi standing there, staring at them with narrowed eyes as his cape billowed in the wind with the sun behind him.

"It's Levi, the strongest soldier of all humanity. We better get out of here!" the corporal called out, motioning for the others to get the sergeant and leave while the going was good.

"I can't leave you alone for a moment without you getting into trouble, can I?" Levi admonished.

"They assaulted this…"

"Shut up! Go back inside and buy the materials I told you to get. Since you have so much energy for picking fights, you can spend the rest of the day cleaning the whole base," the survey scout captain said with his eyes zeroed in on him.

"Oh, thank you," the woman said, running to Ryoga and holding him with tears in her eyes.

"Just doing what was right, Ma'am," Ryoga answered, blushing a little.

FLASHBACK ENDED

Ryoga saw a fifty foot titan with short cropped brown hair stumbling its way towards them. Then he flew into its stomach hammer first, knocking it down, allowing another member of the survey corps to swing around and slice the back of its neck, ending its existence.

"I'm glad you got here so fast, Billy," Ryoga said to the other member of the survey corps.

"No problem, Ryoga. You've been very helpful to us. And I'm the fastest survey scout, so I got here quick enough. The others are on their way."

Billy Meléndez was a moderately tanned slender, young man with wiry muscles and rounded curly, reddish/brown hair. His skill with blades was impressive as he moved with uncanny speed, easily avoiding the attempts of the titans to take hold of him as he cut them down.

"Estevaaaaarr!" Samuel Diaz, another survey scout of the Spanish contingent screamed as he appeared, leaping over the wall, his cape billowing in the wind with his movement through the air. He was attractive with long black hair that normally hung over one of his eyes until he moved quickly, his long mane whipping back.

"I don't believe you guys got here before I did! It would have been better if we had gotten here all at once!" Captain Levi Ackerman announced as he and the members of his squad appeared over the Trost District wall.

"There wasn't a whole lot of time to waste, and if you had been willing to learn from me, you would have…"

"Shut up about that!" Levi admonished as he spun around at super speed and sliced open another titan, decapitating the nape of its neck.

As time went on, more survey scouts arrived, pouring over the wall.

"Come on, guys! There's plenty for everyone!" Diego Conde announced as more of his squad appeared.

"Music to my ears, Captain!" Esteban countered.

Esteban Ramirez was thick shouldered and fair skinned with one long, thick pony tail of black hair going down his back.

"Hola!" Lila called out as she bounced on the housetops with shameless ease, darting from one titan to another, ending their existences with a sword in each hand, her blades moving faster than the untrained eye could follow.

Lila Minoza was a sexy, busty woman with long, sparkling red hair and blue eyes with nice, fair skin.

"You brought the cavalry with you, Ryoga!" Ranma exclaimed as she struck down, a titan that had reached out for her, blasting it in the back of the neck with a vacuum blade attack she had finally managed to master after having seen her cousin do it so long ago.

"Oooh, titans!" Major Hange yelled out. "Hey, Ryoga any chance of you capturing a titan alive?!"

"I don't know about that. Right now I'm trying to make sure nobody gets eaten!"

"We need to dispatch all of these titans and cap up that large hole before this area has to be abandoned all together!" Colonel Erwin stated as he out maneuvered a bald headed titan that had tried to take hold of him by shooting up in the air and getting behind the creature, slicing it in the back of the neck.

At this point, Ranko flew right near him. "Sir, there's a boulder right by that hole, if we can find a lever large enough…"

"You think Ryoga might be strong enough to move the boulder into that hole? That might work. Go find such a lever and place it near the boulder."

"Yes, sir!" Ranko confirmed as she flew off.

XXX

As the elevator lift was lowered into the supply room, the group of soldiers who had their guns ready waited until all the titans in the room made their way to them.

"Get ready. Here they come!" Armin shouted out as the titans walked towards them, surrounding the open elevator.

Eventually they got so close to the soldiers to the point they were able to see the whites of their eyes. "Wait until they're close enough. Now!"

All of the surrounding titans roared as the soldiers shot their eyes out. Then the seven others came crashing down on them from the roof, slashing all of them in the napes of their necks except for one.

"Oops, I missed!" Sasha yelled as she landed only a few feet from the titan who had turned around and regarded her menacingly.

"I know I tried to kill you. I'm so sorry!" Sasha sobbed.

"Oh, great!" To the surprise of everyone there, Armin leaped from the elevator lift and fast drew his blade, spinning around at super speed and slicing the nape of the neck of the titan Sasha had missed. Then the titan went crashing to the ground much to Sasha's relief.

"Are you all right?" Armin asked as he landed next to the girl and helped her up.

"I'm all right. Thanks to you," Sasha replied with tears in her eyes.

"Good. Now we need to get as many supplies as we can carry and get out of here."

XXX

In a matter of moments, everyone had left the building including the supply soldiers. Then they saw more titans in the district fighting the survey scouts.

"It's the Survey Corps!"

"Ryoga!" Mikasa shouted out as she, Johnny, and Armin practically flew over to him, gas shooting out of the backs of their 3DM gear, slicing and dicing through any belligerent titan that was unfortunate enough to be barring their path.

By the time, Mikasa and Armin had gotten to them, Ryoga and a few other members of the Survey Corps were looking at the huge boulder next to the hole the Colossal Titan had kicked in recently. Ranko had already brought a hundred foot long piece of stone timber that was four feet thick in diameter after using her ki blade and bakutsai tenketsu to carve it into that size.

"Ranko told you about my idea about plugging up that hole?" Armin asked as he joined the others.

"Yes, I'm gonna to do it," Ryoga said as he took to the air, grasping the newly made lever.

"Do it quick! There are more titans coming!" Petra shouted over her shoulder as she and others in Levi's squad engaged the titan in the area.

Petra Ral was a comely young woman with yellow orange eyes and hair that reached to the nape of her neck but not past her shoulders. In addition to that she had a light physical build.

"He's supposed to move that huge boulder with a stone beam?! There's no way he can do that!" Levi exclaimed.

"He has to! Make yourself useful and inform the men on the wall to start firing on the approaching titans!" Erwin ordered.

"There's no one there, Colonel! It appears they have all fled!" another survey scout commented.

"We'll do it!" Armin announced with the other soldiers and cadets behind him.

"Go!" Erwin ordered.

The soldiers shot off towards the top of the wall, and as soon as they got there, they started getting the remaining canons ready. Eventually more soldiers who had retreated earlier saw what was going on and made their way to the top of the wall and helped get things set up.

"Fire!" The cannon fire slowed down the approaching titans, but a few had managed to get through.

"Kyaaaah!" Ranma screamed as she clawed her way through the titans within the Trost District as several members of the survey corps did likewise.

"You're pretty good. You're Ranma, right? I'm Lila."

"Yes, I'm Ranma. Hi, Lila," the pigtailed girl greeted as she kept slashing away at the titans in front of her.

"I'm surprised you'd have so much skill, but you might want to use the regulation blades. It's possible the wrong person might see you," Lila said as her own blades did their work.

"You might be right, but my ki claws are so much better. By the way, is that a regulation blade you got there?"

"Nope, but it's not as if my blade is magical like your claws."

"Magical?"

"Less talk and more fighting!" Levi ordered as he swung by them.

Then he turned towards Ranma. "The Survey Corp leave for a couple of days and this happens! How did that hole get created in the first place?"

"The Colossal Titan showed up again and kicked the wall in," Ranma answered.

"Make way! Ryoga's moving the boulder!" a survey scout shouted as he swung passed them.

"Whaaat?!"

Levi's eyes widened in shock as he saw Ryoga use the stone lever to displace the giant rock and roll it towards the recently made hole. Several survey scouts and a few garrison soldiers had swung past him, keeping all the titans out of his way.

"Whew!" Ryoga gasped upon figuring out the center of gravity of the boulder, allowing him to move it along a little faster than he otherwise could. It's quite possible he might not have been able to move it at all despite his great strength. As it was he was pushing his strength beyond its normal limits.

From the main part of Wall Rose certain people were watching the events.

"Who is that survey scout, floating in the air and shoving that boulder towards that giant hole?" Colonel Pixis, commander of the garrison troops, asked his subordinates, one of whom was a tall young man with short cropped, black hair named Gustav Zhukov. The other was a young woman with medium length brown hair named Anka Rheinberger.

Colonel Dot Pixis was a middle aged, bald man with a gray moustache, distinct wrinkles, and crow's feet near his light brown eyes.

"I really don't know who he is, sir," Gustav replied.

"What kind of 3DM gear is he using for him to float in the air like that?" the colonel asked.

"He is too far for us to see exactly what he's doing. Maybe he's using the gear in such a way as to allow him to stay suspended while he shoves that rock into the giant hole," Anka remarked.

"That must be it. He must be pretty good. It looks as if he's flying. There seems to be a lot of survey scouts there. There's a rumor going around that they've been taking less casualties as of late. Either of you know anything about that?"

"I have noticed that their numbers haven't been reducing as much since about three years. I'd say they've figured out how to fight titans better," Gustav replied.

"It definitely seems that way, sir. They seem to be moving a whole lot faster. They're practically fearless and their teamwork is flawless," Anka replied.

"Yes, it is," Pixis stated.

Then the older man paused, looking intently upon the battle. "If that survey scout manages to plug the hole, everyone in the area needs to get out of there. Then cannons need to be placed so as to attack the remaining titans. Once the titans have been softened up, we can send reinforcements in to mop of the rest. Send a messenger to tell Erwin and anyone else who needs to know. Victory may well be ours today."

"Yes, sir!

XXX

In another area closer to the battle, Captain Wellman, Sergeant Metalisch, Lieutenant Riko Brzenska, and some other soldiers under the captain watched the battle from a fairly safe distance.

"I'm surprised anybody would be able to do that," the lieutenant exclaimed.

Lieutenant Riko Brzenska had a mop top of silver/white hair and glasses with a look of no nonsense about her as she watched the battle.

"He must be faking something. There's no way that wimp would be able to move that rock. Nobody's that strong," the sergeant answered.

"He obviously is that strong. Didn't he cold cock you once, Sergeant?" Riko answered without looking away.

"The pipsqueak got lucky. That's all!"

"He might be a titan for all we know," the cowardly captain said out loud.

"Wouldn't he be a lot bigger if he was a titan? He's actually smaller than the sergeant," one of the aides said, prompting the big man to look over his massive shoulders and glare at him, making the man cower back a couple of steps.

"At any rate, I'm going to help them," the lieutenant said as she leaped from the top of the wall, using her 3DM equipment.

"Wait!" the captain called out, reaching for her, but she was gone in a matter of seconds.

"What a waste," the sergeant said to no one in particular as he viewed the attractive woman's departing backside.

XXX

After Armin had stood on top of the wall, helping place the canons where they needed to be, he whipped out a pair of binoculars from his small subspace pouch. Then he saw something moving in the distance towards the walls.

"There are more titans coming!" Armin called out as he put the binoculars away.

"What was that you just put to your…" a scout asked.

"There's no time to explain now. Ryoga has to get that boulder into place quickly or we'll be overwhelmed!"

"I believe you." At that point, Mikasa took off for the District.

"Mikasa, where are you going?!" Armin called out.

"I need to help Ryoga get that stone into the hole. If more titans are on their way, he'll need to speed things up!"

Armin looked on as Mikasa took off using a great deal of gas while at the same time minimizing her gravity.

"How is she moving so fast?! Did Ranko and Ranma have something to do with what's going on?" Jean exclaimed.

"It looks like it," Marco said as he walked over to his friend, Jean.

"There's no doubt about it! Maybe Ranko and Ranma have ruined the grading curve, but their presence has minimized our casualty rate. Heck, look at Armin. He was a wimp when he first got here. Now he's a badass," Connie replied, looking upon the page haired boy with scrutiny.

"Yeah, thanks, Connie."

"Anytime, Armin."

"_How is Mikasa going to be able to aid Ryoga? Her strength will be negligible compared to his despite how strong she is," _Armin speculated.

"You're right, Armin. There are more titans coming this way! I can feel it! What are we going to do now?!" Johnny annouced.

"We'll have to get keep firing on them. We need to do everything we can do to slow them down!" Armin screamed.

Minutes later, Mikasa had made her way to Ryoga. "We need that hole blocked right away!"

"Whew! I'm moving as fast as I can!" Ryoga answered gruffly.

"Let me help you. More titans are on their way, hundreds of them. If they get in, there'll be no saving this district!"

"I feared as much. Has either Ranko or Ranma taught you how to float in the air?"

"Yes, but at this point I can't move too fast," Mikasa responded.

Ryoga regarded Mikasa for a moment. Then he smiled. "You're stronger than you know. I'm going to need you to take hold of this lever as soon as I let it go. Then use the lever to move the rock upwards into the air. At that point, I'll pick it up and go as fast as I can."

"Can you actually do that?!"

"I'll have to."

"But, Ryoga!"

"I can do it, but I need your help, Mikasa! Use the lever to push up the boulder when I put my hand up. Ready?"

"Ready!"

Ryoga let go the beam, allowing Mikasa to take hold of it, it being a lot harder than Mikasa had imagined as she moved the boulder forward.

"_Ryoga must have gotten a load of strength from that other universe. He's obviously stronger than I thought he was!"_

"Aaaaaaah!" Ryoga screamed before he got to the boulder, straining himself and making his aura red with power. Then he signaled to Mikasa.

"Whew!" Mikasa gasped as she exerted herself, using the lever to pole vault the boulder upwards, allowing Ryoga to get under it. Then he moved with it in tow!

"Aaaaggh!" Ryoga screamed with every muscle and nerve in his body crying out in pain as he hefted the giant boulder. Then he flew forward, making more speed than he had done earlier as the red aura around him increased in intensity!

"Everybody get out of his way and keep the titans away from him!" Colonel Erwin ordered as everyone rushed to comply with the order.

"Let me help you, Cadet," Lieutenant Dietrich said to Mikasa as he shot over to her, helping her to the top of the building.

"Whew! Yes, thanks."

"Wow! How is he doing all that?!" Sasha called out as she watched the events from the top of the wall.

"Everybody look alive! The titans are here! Fire!" Armin shouted, prompting the soldiers on the wall to shoot off canon and gunfire, cutting the giants down, but despite their heroic efforts one got through.

"Speed up, Ryoga!" Armin screamed with his hands to his mouth as his friend closed the gap in between him and the giant sized hole.

"Aaaaaaaaaah!" Ryoga gasped as he shoved the boulder into the hole with a herculean effort. Then he crashed to the ground in exhaustion, the red aura around him dissipating.

Despite the closing of the hole, the titan that had made it past the cannon barrage leaped up through the narrowing hole cleanly. Upon getting to the other side of the giant boulder, it looked down and took hold of the maxed out Ryoga, moving the exhausted warrior towards his opening mouth.

"Nooo!" both Mikasa and Ranma screamed as they went flying into the titan. Ranma had gotten ahead so she sliced of the hand that held her lover aloft. Then Mikasa turned off her gravity and shot herself towards the back of the titan's head, slicing off the nape of its neck.

"The breach's been closed!"

The men all over the area cheered as Ranma and Mikasa helped Ryoga up.

"It's not over yet! There are still titans inside of the district!" Erwin yelled out.

At that point Gustav arrived via his 3DM gear. "Colonel Smith, Colonel Pixis wants you and everybody else to get out of the district. He plans to wear down the remaining titans with cannon fire from the top of the adjoining Wall Rose."

"All right, bring the wounded and get out of here! We're retreating!" Colonel Erwin Smith shouted out to everyone.

As the soldiers made their way out, a few of them found themselves in the hands of a titan.

"Let go of meeee!"

"Nooo!"

Lieutenant Ian Dietrich arrived upon the scene and grabbed one of the soldiers who was in the mouth of one of the titans throwing him out. Then he found himself in its jaws, but before the titan's teeth could clamp on him...

"Right here, sir!" Ranko announced, striking the titan's jaw with a roundhouse kick that forced its mouth open, dropping Ian.

"Gotcha!" Ranko said as she flew over towards him and tossed him on the top of a nearby rooftop only to be grasped by the titan and thrown in its mouth before she knew what was happening.

"Tendeau!" the lieutenant screamed.

For a moment the titan looked like the cat that swallowed the canary, seeming as if it felt really good about itself as it smiled and stood with its arms akimbo and knees bent, standing in triumph. Then its eyes began to widen in surprise.

As Ranko went falling through a large hole towards the titans' stomach, she was horrified to see all the floating bodies in what looked like a sea of blood. Several dead uniformed soldiers bobbed up and down in the mire. The heat and stench were all but unbearable, forcing Ranko to shake herself out of her despair and take action.

"Whew!"

"Help me!"

Ranko looked down to see a girl calling out to her. She was twelve years old with long brown hair and bright blue eyes, covered with slime. Her tear stained face looked up in surprise as Ranko swooped down and pulled the sobbing girl out of the mire.

"Th-thank you."

"We're not out of the woods yet, but I want you to hold on to me tight. I'm going to have to slice our way out of here!"

With the girl in tow, Ranko flew up towards where she figured the nape of the neck would be. Then she attacked with her ki blade!

The distraught lieutenant gasped in awe as Ranko cut through below of the back of the titan's neck from the inside, killing her devourer as she burst out of it.

"What the… How did you do that? And who's that?!" Dietrich announced upon noticing the girl on Ranko's back with smoke coming off of the both of them.

"No time to explain, sir. Are you all right?" the girl asked with a tilt of her head.

"Y-yes." The lieutenant was still in shock over what had almost happened to him and what had happened with Ranko as he stared at her blankly.

"Sir!"

"Uh, yes."

"We're retreating, sir. I need to see who else needs my help. The hole made by the Colossal Titan has been plugged. So I'd appreciate it if you'd take this girl along with you when you leave," Ranko requested, as she placed the sobbing girl down beside him and left. Then she remembered to use her 3DM gear, swinging off in direction of the battle to aid any more stragglers.

When she was far enough away, Ranko shot off into a fifteen foot titan with short brown hair that was walking around in a daze, kicking it in the back of the head knocking it out. Then she landed on its back, but as she was about to deliver the coup de grace when…

"Good work, Ranko!" Major Zoe Hange called out as she touched down, landing abruptly beside her.

"I'm not done yet. I haven't sliced the nape of its neck off."

"Belay that, Ranko. I want to keep it alive. We've already captured one of them already, but we can always use another."

"Then why do you need this one? If it wakes up, it's liable to kill someone."

Hange regarded Ranko for a moment. "You're pretty strong, aren't you?"

"Yes, I…"

"Could you carry this titan to where I direct you?"

"Yes, they're not as heavy as they look."

"Good. Carry it along as you follow me. This day is getting better and better!" the high ranking officer exclaimed, getting giddy as she jumped up and down, her glasses fogging up.

"Major, look out!" Ranko screamed upon noticing a twenty foot titan make its way from behind her.

Hange shot up with a burst of smoke from her gear, avoiding the grasping fist. Then she executed a reverse acrobatic flip as she kept flying up, flipping end over end until she landed right behind the titan, landing on the nape of its neck and attaching herself to it with a swing line.

"Hey, there big guy, what's the matter?!"

The titan tried to reach behind itself as if swatting an annoying fly, but Zoe was moving too fast for it.

"What are you waiting for Ranko?! Knock this one out too!" the major ordered.

Ranko raised her eyebrows in surprise but complied with the order, shooting up at the bumbling titan and striking it in the jaw with a well-placed uppercut.

"Oh, yeah!" Hange exulted, shaking back and forth as the monster went crashing to the ground.

"Are you sure you don't…"

"You know what? Take hold of this one and follow me. Later on, we'll come back for the smaller one."

Ranko looked up at Hange with a tilt of her head in the major's direction.

"What are you waiting for?! Pick it up and follow me! Chop, chop!"

XXX

Upon the end of Ryoga's exertions, two figures watched the events from a distance on top of one of the higher buildings.

"It's amazing how Ryoga was able to plug up that hole. He actually risked being eaten," the taller one said.

"That really doesn't matter all that much. If it comes down to it, I'll just make another hole with my titan form," the shorter, bulkier one said.

"What's stopping Ryoga from plugging the hole again? He might even be able to plug up the hole to the Shiganshina District."

"Yeah, he might be able to plug up the hole I created after the hole you created. But let's not forget about Marcel and his crystal form. We might have to go along with his idea of making multiple holes in the walls," the shorter, burlier one said.

"Are we going to have to do something about Ryoga?" the taller one asked.

"We might. Ranma and Ranko pose a problem as well. There's even a rumor they've gone over the walls and brought back much needed supplies."

"There's also the problem that they've taught some of the others their skills. That Johnny Sako kid practically flew towards me when I kicked that hole in Wall Maria," the taller one said.

"Gasp!"

Then the two turned around, their faces going white with shock upon noticing another cadet regarding them while standing a few yards away on the same building.

"Titan form? The hole I made? What were you guys talking about?!" the blond said with a look of shock on his face.

"Thomas!"

"What's going on?!" Thomas snapped at them.

"Nothing at all. We were just clowning around," the burly one said.

Thomas regarded the two soldiers for a moment as the wind blew over them, breaking the silence.

"Well, it's a bad idea to make jokes like that, especially now. If I didn't know better, I'd think you two were the Colossal and Armored Titans."

"Whaaat?!" the two exclaimed with looks of shock on their faces.

"Hey, I was just clowning around," Thomas said, looking to the side askance.

"Oh, I get it. You were trying to make a point about making bad jokes. You really got us there," the shorter one said.

"See? Now we need to get out there and focus on the mission. Now let's go!" Thomas announced as he took off.

"_How much were those guys joking? Surely they're not working for someone else,"_ Thomas thought as he made his way to the battle taking place.

"What are you two waiting for?! Stop him before he blows your cover!"

The undercover agents turned around, noticing a voluptuous woman with long blond hair wearing a cadet's uniform.

"Well, um…"

"Get him and terminate him!" the woman ordered.

After the two chased after Thomas, another cadet showed up.

"Who are you? You didn't graduate with our class. And why did you order those two soldiers to go after that other one?" Marco said. Then he noticed the scuffle. He stared intently, but he wasn't able to make out who any of them were when they went crashing down behind one of the many buildings in the area.

"Well, Hyaaai!" the woman screamed, surprising Marco out with a powerful roundhouse kick to the jaw that put him in a world of unconsciousness.

After looking around to make sure the coast was clear, she relieved Marco of his 3DM gear. Upon seeing a titan make their way towards them, she threw Marco on top of a slanting downward roof of a lower building. As Marco slipped downwards towards the waiting titan, she took off.

XXX

While Ranko was keeping busy, Jean flew to where he saw Marco Bodt falling towards the proportionally large, opening mouth of a twenty foot titan that was leaping up towards him.

"Marco!"

Without another moment's hesitation, Jean shot off via his 3DM gear, using his prime blade skills to slice of the nape of the titan's neck, causing the creature to go crashing into a nearby building which collapsed over it. Then he caught his falling comrade seconds before he fell to the ground.

"Marco? Where's your 3DM gear? You're practically naked out here without it."

"Ungh! Someone beat me up and took my gear."

"Really? Who was it?"

"It was someone with long blond hair. I don't know who she was though. There are titans all over the place. Leave me and save yourself."

"Don't be silly. Take it easy, buddy. I'm taking you back to safety. Now hold on."

Several yards away, a voluptuous woman with blond hair looked on with narrowed eyes as Jean swung through the air with Marco in tow. Then she regarded the extra 3DM gear in her hands.

"_How did Ranko manage to knock those titans out? I'm going to have to dispatch those titans before the people here figure out too much about them. That's assuming I'll be able to get away with doing that without anyone noticing me."_

"Is that 3DM gear for getting into where those captured titans are in order to kill them?" someone from behind her asked.

"That's right, Marcel."

Marcel Berwick was a young man of medium height and build with short cropped, dark brown hair that shone in the sun as he regarded his comrade.

"I still think that the Colossal Titan could just reappear and smash a hole into another district wall. Then I can turn into a titan myself and crash through the adjoining wall, Wall Rose. A few days later, we do the same thing to Wall Sina. After all of that, it's a rap."

"That's not how things are to going to work, Marcel. We need to find the coordinate before we wipe these people out."

"If you like, we can make things really interesting and have the Armored Titan smash through one part of the wall while I crash through another part of the wall," Marcel answered, being disgustingly pleased with himself for his ideas.

"No, Marcel. Those aren't our orders. You've seen what happened. Ryoga Yeager, Ranma Sautorme, and Ranko Tendeau are variables that need to be accounted for. They've already strengthened the Survey Corps and many of the cadets who've just graduated. And from what I've seen Ryoga may well be able to take you or the armored titan on," the blond replied, looking over her shoulder at her co-conspirator.

"That guy couldn't take me on in my titan form. Neither could either of those girls. How did you do against them in boot camp?" Marcel asked.

"I lost. Either one of them is too strong for me. The only way I could take them on is to be in my titan form, assuming even that would work. And don't forget the fact that these girls can fly. So being out in the open wouldn't matter to them. It wouldn't surprise me if Ryoga could fly too. As it is, he's as strong as a titan. He's surely the strongest warrior of all humanity."

"They couldn't take me on. That redheaded girl's claws would simply be blunted against my crystalized form."

Then the blond whipped around and snapped back at him. "There's no time for that right now! Get out of here, take this 3DMG equipment and kill those captured titans the first chance you get. The last thing we need is for these people to find any more weaknesses in the titans or us!"

"All right already!" With that Marcel Berwick put on the equipment and left. Then the blond took off, joining the others in the retreat.

XXX

Afterwards, thanks to the coordinated efforts of the garrison regiments and the scouts regiment's corps of engineers, Wall Rose stood as a defensive barrier against the titans once again.

It was a full day's work dispatching the titans that were trapped inside the Trost District during which the wall mounted canons fired downward ceaselessly. Most of the titans nearest the wall were wiped out by canon fire while the ones who had survived were summarily killed by the members of the Survey Corps.

Despite the victory the casualties were high though not as high as they could have been. The dead numbered a little more than a hundred while there were one hundred thirty-three injuries.

XXX

A couple days after the battle, Jean Kirschstein walked through the streets of the Trost District wearing gloves and a handkerchief over his face as he and other soldiers searched for the dead.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Annie continued to say to the corpses lying around.

"Contrition isn't going to help them. The best thing we can do is find out who each of these people are and bury them," Reiner Braun said to her.

"Look at this," a soldier commented.

There were several people engulfed in balls of crystal/red colored slime as if a giant cat had coughed up hairballs.

One of the previous titan victims encased in one of the slime balls had his mouth open wide as if screaming in horror.

"What's the deal with all this?" another soldier said in reference to the hapless victims engulfed in the slime.

"The titans don't have digestive systems so when they have had their fill they vomit everything out."

"Yuck!"

"Did you hear about that survey scout who lifted a giant boulder and placed it in the hole the Colossal Titan kicked in?"

"Yeah, I saw that. He used a giant lever to shove the boulder into the hole," another commented, prompting Annie to turn around and pay more attention to what was being said.

"There's even a rumor that he flew as he carried that stone."

"Flew? There's no way he could have done that!"

"Maybe he did. There's another rumor going around that two of the cadets ventured outside Wall Rose into titan infested territory to get materials that are in short supply around here."

"No way!"

"At any rate, the high command is going to interview him and those two cadets in the interior. With all the rumors going on about him and those cadets, the higher ups want to take a look at them for themselves," another soldier said in response.

"It's even possible this guy is humanity's strongest soldier, even stronger than Levi!"

As everybody got to the business at hand, Jean noticed someone familiar encased in some of the titan vomit. _"That's Thomas Wagner! And to think that almost happened to Marco? Where's Thomas's 3DM gear? And why does he look as if he's been beaten up?" _

"Do you know this guy?" a nurse said, walking up to him.

"Yeah, I know him."

"Then I'd appreciate it if you would tell me his name. We need to get this work done as quickly as possible."

"His name was Thomas Wagner."

"Thank you."

A few feet away from them, one of the soldiers was at work placing dead bodies in the bonfire. _"I don't know if Marco Bodt recognized me or not, but I can't afford to take that chance."_

XXX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Did you notice all the Easter eggs in this chapter? If you have any questions either leave it in a review or email me.


	9. Johnny Sako and his Flying Titan

Attack on Ranma

Chapter Nine

"_THOUGHTS"_

XXX

Upon the end of his extraneous efforts Ryoga had passed out. Several hours later he woke up in bed in his bedclothes with a uniformed Mikasa and Ranma sitting on either side of him.

"Morning, sleepy head!" Ranma announced as she walked into the room along with Ranko, prompting Ryoga to sit up.

"How are you, Ryoga?" Mikasa asked with concern with Armin and Johnny walking in right behind her.

"I'm all right. Kind of hungry though."

"I figured you'd want something to eat after moving that rock. I'll be right back." At that point, Ranma sauntered out of the room and returned with a silver domed plate of food on a tray.

"Chef Celine made you a feast fit for an emperor," Ranma said as she placed the tray of food in front of him.

"Thanks, Ranma."

As Ryoga sat up and dug in, he enjoyed the perfectly cooked venison in mushroom sauce along with seasoned potatoes, sauerkraut, and cabbage with a mug of beer on the side.

"That universe from which you came made you awfully strong, Ryoga. That giant boulder was heavier than I imagined it would have been," Mikasa said as Ryoga enjoyed his food.

"Me? Nah, I'm not that great. You should see how strong Goku was. He was able to level mountains."

"Goku? Who was that?!" Johnny exclaimed.

"He was the strongest person there. I was nowhere near the strongest. There was even a short bald guy who was stronger than me."

"Did he look like Connie Springer?" Ranko asked with a giggle.

"A little bit."

"Well, we appreciate you, Ryoga," Ranma said upon giving her lover a gentle hug.

Then Levi walked into the room along with Major Zoe Hange. "What's with all the mush? Anyway, eat up while you can, Ryoga. General Darius Zackary has set up a court of enquiry about you."

"A court? What did Ryoga do that requires him to stand trial?!" Ranma demanded, turning towards them quickly. "If it wasn't for him…"

"That's the whole point. Ryoga has shown abilities that no one else has except for you, your friend Ranko, Mikasa, Johnny, and even the page haired boy," Levi answered.

"Are we on trial, too?"

"It's not a trial; it's a court of enquiry. The higher ups simply want a better assessment of what you guys can do. They don't like surprises, even pleasant ones."

At that point, Hange could no longer contain herself, thus her active mouth burst wide open. "Despite all that, I got good news! Thanks to Ranko and some other soldiers, we've captured a total of four titans alive. Now we can run tests on them and see what makes them tick!"

"Oh, that's nice," Mikasa said, giving the major a strange look.

"Don't worry about what happened, you guys. I'll be sure to tell the general how important your contributions were to the cause of humanity, especially since I might want to capture more titans alive in the future," Major Hange announced, jumping up and down with glee.

"Will it be important for Ranko and me to get our stories straight?" Ranma asked.

"That's a good question," Colonel Erwin Smith said as he walked into the room with his cape trailing behind him, regarding Ryoga.

"I'm glad all of you guys are here. We need to discuss the kind of answers you're going to give in the upcoming court of inquiry. In addition to that, you're going to have to bring some gifts to the Supreme Commander," Colonel Erwin said in regards to Ranma and Ranko.

"I see. How soon do we need to get these 'gifts'?" Ranma asked.

"You'll need to get them before the court of enquiry starts which is six hours from now."

"We can't go flying off into titan infested territory in broad daylight! Somebody might see us!" Ranma announced.

"And even if we were to make ourselves invisible, we couldn't do that for the cart we'd be carrying," Ranma broke in.

"You won't need a whole cart to carry what the Supreme Commander desires. With what you've done, you'll have no problem finding what the commander wants. Here's the list," Erwin said, handing a piece of paper to Ranma and Ranma.

"Gifts? Where are they supposed to get all that stuff?" Levi asked as he grabbed the paper out of Ranma and Ranko's hands and quickly scanned it before handing it back to them.

"They've flown over the walls in order to get materials that were needed by the chef while they were in boot camp," Erwin answered.

"Oh. We better get started on this," Ranma commented.

"That's right. Get back here right away so we can discuss how you'll answer the questions at the enquiry."

Major Hange's eyes lit up upon hearing the conversation, jumping up and down in a giddy manner. "They're going into titan territory?! I should come along to supervise!"

"No, Zoe. You lack the stealth abilities Ranma and Ranko have. Thus you would only get in their way," Erwin replied, looking over his shoulder.

"Let me at least see them off! I want to watch how they do what they do!" Hange demanded as Ranma and Ranko made their way to the door.

"Let her go. At least that loon won't bother us here," Levi countered.

"All right, you can go, but stay out of their way," Erwin ordered.

However, before Ranma and Ranko could leave, a messenger smashed through the door with breaking news!

"A new titan made of crystal has appeared out of nowhere and has broken the outer wall of the Nedlay district!"

The Nedlay District was an outlying district attached to Wall Rose much like the Trost District and two others.

"A crystal titan?!" Colonel Erwin answered.

"Yes, every available soldier is ordered to show up there to fight the titans that are sure to make their way inside the district. There's also a concern that he might smash his way through the inner wall in the same way the Armored Titan did a few years ago!"

"Oooh, a new titan! How tall is it?!" Zoe Hange asked.

"It's around 50 feet tall, Ma'am. You need to hurry!" the messenger answered. Then he left them as quickly as he had arrived.

"The court of enquiry will have to wait. For now, everyone to the Nedlay District!" Colonel Erwin ordered.

"You stay here and rest, Ryoga. We'll handle this," Ranma said, placing a restraining hand on the bedridden boy.

"But, wait. I…"

"Stay here and rest, Ryoga!" Mikasa said, brooking no further argument.

XXX

Marcel Berlick had stood outside of Wall Rose in front of the jutting, outlying walled district of the Nedlay. Upon turning into his crystalized titan form before drawing dozens of titans to himself, Marcel had used his rock hard hand to silently slice a giant sized, oblong hole into the wall. Then he smashed his way through, stomping on any hapless villager who had had the misfortune of being in his way.

"It's a titan!"

"How did he get in here?!"

"It's the end of the world! Run for your lives!"

As the villagers ran around like chickens with their heads cut off, the Crystal Titan looked down on the people as if they were ants to stomp on. Then he marched through town, looking around as other titans made their way through the hole he had so skillfully made.

"There's more of them coming! Where's the military?!" another villager screamed as a titan bent down and reached for him.

"Let me go! Aaaargh!"

"_There it is!"_ the crystalized titan thought to himself as he made his way to the draw bridge entrance to the main wall of Wall Rose.

"_It's time to smash my way through this accursed wall. This will show the others my importance. Who knows? Maybe I'll keep going all the way to Wall Shina and smash through that wall too. Thus we can end the lives of these pathetic insects once and for all,"_ Marcel thought to himself as he crouched and got set to charge.

"It's another titan! We're going to concentrate on this one before we deal with the titans making their way inside," a garrison sergeant ordered as she led twenty other soldiers including Ymir and Krysta who were one of the first troops drafted into the fight.

Sergeant Molly Yarn was of medium height and build with short red hair and strong limbs. The fair skinned young woman exhibited a commanding presence as she got everyone under her to follow her lead as she catapulted over several houses using her 3DM gear.

Then the diamond skinned titan ran towards the draw bridge which was quickly closing.

"Get those cannons ready! Move it!"

"We're moving as fast as we can, Sergeant!"

"No, excuses! More titans are on their way."

"It will take a couple of minutes to set things up! We're not going to make it!" one of the men cried out.

"Quit whining and do your job!" the potbellied sergeant on the ground barked out.

"Oh, no! It's the armored titan!"

"That's not the Armored Titan. This one is made out of crystal. But look alive. It's coming this way!" another soldier shouted out.

The men were paralyzed with fear as the crystalized titan bore down on them until the sergeant snapped them out of it.

"Fire!" Upon the sergeant's command, the soldiers fired, the deadly cannon balls bouncing off the titan's diamond hard hide while the cannon fire that had flown by him blew off the heads of a couple of nearby titans.

"Retreat! Retreat!" As the frightened soldiers dropped their weapons and ran towards the closing wall, the titan which was miles away was making good time as it got closer and closer.

"We have to stop this brand new titan! If it smashes through the bridge to the main wall, everyone inside Wall Rose will be titan fodder!" Sergeant Molly Yarn called out as her impromptu made platoon followed her on her way to the diamonded titan.

"What can we do to stop that thing?!" one of the soldiers under her cried out as the titan stopped in its tracks to regard the oncoming squad.

"We have to stop it!"

The sergeant shot out a line into a building several yards away from the titan and shot forward, gas shooting out of her equipment only to have the crystal titan grab her zip line and swing it countless times as it regarded the others with a wicked smile. Then it tossed the G-force crushed body over its shoulder behind it as if it was nothing, giving the others a look that dared them to attack.

"We have to stop that thing!" Krysta yelled out as some of the others soldiers began to stealthily back away.

"Look out, Krysta!" Ymir screamed as she shot a line and swung forward, quickly bypassing an attempt to take hold of her by the crystallized giant.

"I got you covered, Ymir!" Krysta responded out as she went flying behind the titan to strike at the nape of its neck. "Now!"

However, Krysta's enthusiasm and confidence vanished when her blades blunted against the rock/diamond hard body of the hostile titan who quickly took hold of her grappling line and sent her flying into the direction from which she had come.

"Krysta!" Ymir had become so distracted after seeing what happened to her friend that the diamond titan was finally able to grab her and slam and bounce her to the ground until finally stomping on her.

"Nooo!" Krysta screamed as she attached a line to a building and made her way back towards the belligerent titan.

Then another, dopey looking titan with brown hair and large clumsy hands took a grasping swing at the fast flying blond, missing her but causing her to go smashing into the roof of a small house. After falling through the tiled roof, Krysta fell into the home on top of the dinner table inside, smashing the plates and silverware on it.

After looking around in triumph, the diamond titan regarded the closed entrance to Wall Rose.

XXX

Johnny Sako had quickly shot out of the building he and the others were in since he still had his 3DM gear on. With uncanny speed he flew into the Crystal Titan with his blades out.

"_Who does this guy think he is?!"_ Marcel thought as he took swings at the artful dodger who moved faster than the titan would have thought possible.

"It's over, titan! I'm cutting you down to size right now! Aaaaagh!" Johnny screamed as he practically flew past the offending hands of the titan and landed on its arms. Then he ran up the creature's arm towards the nape of its neck.

"_Oh, no, you don't!"_ Marcel attempted to strike the soldier on his arm only to end up striking himself as Johnny had leaped away.

"AAAARRRGGGHH!" the titan screamed as some of its crystal covering chipped off.

"_You're gonna pay for that, you insect!"_ Marcel thought as Johnny disappeared from his view.

"_Where did he go?"_ Then Marcel felt something on the nape of his neck.

"_Get away from there!" _

To Johnny's surprise, he couldn't cut through the titan's crystal coating.

"_What's going on?!"_

Johnny had been so surprised that he had underestimated how fast the titan could turn around and got hit.

"Yeoooow!"

At that moment, the titan grabbed him and threw him into the closed draw bridge several miles in front of him.

"_That's the end of him! Now where was I?"_

Then he crouched down, got set, and took off running, his rock hard feet pounding the ground, making everything shake as he passed by it.

Despite the obvious, Johnny wasn't done. _"Ungh, I can't give up. I have to stop this titan before he destroys us all."_ "Aaaaah!"

At that moment, Johnny Sako changed in height and appearance, growing to fifty feet tall weighing several tons. His body was grey/silver with red trim as the top of his head was flat then shaped like a pyramid downward with red and silver stripes except for his face. His eyes were black and his feet looked like oblong boxes.

As he got to his feet, the mechanized titan put his hands up, and turned at a 90 degree angle, allowing him to face the titan that was making its way towards him.

"_What do I do now? I attack!" _

"_What the heck is that? Whatever it is, I'll destroy it along with that door,"_ Marcel thought as he kept on moving!

"Ruff!" came out of the mechanized titan as he put his left arm out while placing his right arm on his chest. Then he did the vice versa. And by the time the Crystal Titan had run into him, the Mecha Titan struck him with a, _"power punch!"_

"_Ungh! What the heck was that?!"_ Marcel thought as he went flying dozens of yards away, landing flat on his back.

"Time to blast him!" The robotic titan directed his hands towards the downed titan. Then he let energy projectiles come out of his fingertips.

"AAARRGGHH!" the Crystal Titan screamed as his crystalline armor cracked under the armor piercing attack. And as Marcel got to his feet, Johnny cocked his left hand back and struck him again, knocking his opponent to the ground.

"You see that? There are two titans fighting each other," Ranko said as soon as they appeared on the scene.

"Yeah, it's best we deal with all the other titans first. Then we'll worry about these two," Levi said as he leaped into the fray.

In a matter of minutes, all the titans had been dispatched except for the two who were fighting each other.

"There's something familiar about that mechanized titan."

"You're right, Ranko. In fact, I think that's Johnny Sako!" Ranma announced.

"You're right, Ranma. Who knows how long this fight will last. I'm going down there to take out that Crystal Titan."

"Ryoga! I thought I told you to rest!" Mikasa admonished.

"I have rested. All that food hit the spot. Now, everybody stand back," Ryoga said as he seemed to bound over building after building until he had maneuvered himself behind the Crystal Titan and threw his ki hammer into the back of its head, knocking him out.

As the downed titan crashed to the ground, Ryoga flew over to the nape of its neck and shattered the crystal covering, slicing through the flesh and getting Marcel out of his titan.

"Whoa!" the mechanized titan said without his lips moving.

"Johnny?"

"Yes, it's me!" the mechanized titan called out with Johnny Sako's voice.

"How did you turn into a titan that actually looks like a giant robot?" Ryoga asked.

"Robot? I don't know. But before we talk about all that, we oughtta fix that breach in the wall!" Johnny said from within his titan form.

"All right, Johnny. We'll do that. What else do you know about titans?"

"You'll need to make sure he can't stab himself. That will keep him from becoming a titan again!"

"What's going on here?! Why are you talking to a titan, Ryoga?!" Levi's eyes widened upon seeing the mechanized titan wave at him.

Right behind him was Zoe Hange, Ranko, and Ranma along with a few others.

"A talking titan! Oooh!" Zoe Hange exclaimed upon the sight of it, practically having an orgasm.

"Is that really Johnny?" Ranko asked.

"Yes, it's me, Ranko! I don't know how this happened, but we really need to close off the hole this titan has created before more titans get in here!"

At that point, Ryoga floated higher into the air where he noticed the smoking carcasses of titans laid all over the district.

"I guess the rest of you dealt with the other titans, but Johnny's right. We need to fix that hole."

"_That idiot! I told Marcel not to do anything. Now he got himself captured. In addition to slaying those captured titans, I'm going to have to retrieve him as well. I wonder if that new titan is the coordinate we're searching for. He sounds like Johnny Sako. Is that him? But how?"_ the voluptuous woman with long blond hair thought to herself as she viewed the events from a good distance away.

XXX

Since Marcel had sliced through the wall so neatly, it was fairly easy for the giant sized Johnny and Ryoga to fix the wall with the broken piece of the wall that had been sliced off. The material Ranma and Ranko had brought to them helped speed things up as well. However, everyone was surprised when a heat beam came out of Johnny's robotic titan form to seal the broken wall back into place.

As soon the wall was repaired, an exhausted Giant Johnny shocked everyone by shrinking down to his normal height of six feet tall, weighing a muscular 185 pounds with white smoke covering the area. At that point, Ryoga found him, picked him up, and carried him over the other side of the wall. Then he brought him towards where they had had their meeting earlier.

"I think it's time for you to explain yourself, Johnny," Erwin said as everyone there sat down and gave the boy their rapt attention.

"I don't know how it all happened. I don't know what to say!" Johnny explained.

"Anyway, you're off the hook for now, Ryoga. Johnny's appearance as the mechanized titan has created quite a stir. So General Zackary is going to decide what to do with you, Johnny," Colonel Erwin explained.

"If I didn't know better I'd think the higher ups were more concerned with their control than with victory over the titans," Ranma commented dryly.

"So you're finally beginning to understand how things work around here," Levi broke in.

"By the way, did you girls get those things I wanted you to get?" Erwin asked as he looked over at Ranma and Ranko.

"Yeah, we got them," Ranma confirmed with the bag in her hands.

"Good. That will help Johnny out a great deal. Now let's get our stories straight."

XXX

In the market place out in the street inside of Wall Rose gossip was bustling.

"Did you hear about the survey scout who picked up a giant sized boulder and capped up the hole the Colossal Titan had made?"

"Oh, yes. He's surely humanity's greatest warrior, even surpassing Levi," another a woman responded.

"Who is this guy that's surpassed Levi Ackerman?"

"His name's Ryoga Yeager. He's big and strong. Some people say he can even fly through the air like a bird."

"There's an even bigger guy that turns into a titan!" another woman commented.

"I heard about that guy. Word is he's comparable to the armored titan. That he looks mechanical. As it was, he repaired the wall the Crystal Titan destroyed."

"I guess he's a Mecha Titan?"

"You can say that."

"That's not all! There are two women in the military that are almost as strong as Ryoga Yeager or the Mecha Titan. There's even a rumor going around that they've flown over the walls into titan infested territory in order to get food and merchandise that are in short supply around here."

"They're girls with unusual skills that have shared with the other members of the military what they've gotten, and they're totally fearless," a middle aged woman interjected.

"If that's true we might be able to take back Wall Maria!"

Inside of Wall Sina, the innermost wall where the inhabitants hadn't seen a titan in all their lives, other conversations were taking place.

"There's a guy who plugged the hole the Colossal Titan created when he kicked in Wall Rose," a well-dressed gentleman said to his comrade while they worked at their office in the interior.

"That's true, but there's even another guy who can become a titan."

"Yes, that guy can stay where he is in the exterior. We don't need anybody like that around here."

"You can say that again."

XXX

Sometime later, Johnny Sako found himself inside of a prison cell wearing shackles. The two Military Police who guarded him looked upon him with contempt as he grated against his restraints.

"What's the deal, guys?! You'd think I beat the both of you up or something!" Johnny said, breaking the silence.

"Shut up, you monster!" the guard on the right snapped back at him.

"Well, do you mind if I use the bathroom?"

"You can wait a few minutes, you titan," the other guard said.

"I'm dying of thirst too! Can't I get some water?!"

"Shut up!"

XXX

"Did you hear about that survey scout who moved the boulder into the hole created by the Colossal Titan?" a military police officer said to his comrade as they stood by the entrance of the white building in which the court of inquiry was taking place.

"Yeah, I still don't believe it. Nobody's that strong."

"Is he some kind of titan?"

"No, I don't think so. What he did was use a lever to displace the boulder and roll it into the hole. It's a no-brainer. So there's really no reason to have all this hullabaloo over someone using simple geometry to plug up a hole," another military police soldier on duty commented.

"But there's another scout who can become a titan. Don't know all the details, but this guy's stronger than the other one. What will the survey scouts cook up next?"

"Yeah. This titan scout could be a problem. What if he and the survey scouts decide to take over the country? Haven't their casualties been a whole lot lower in recent years?" another soldier commented.

"That's true. Colonel Erwin's clout has grown considerably. There's even a rumor that all of the top ten in the cadet corps are going to join the scouts."

"Impossible! The military police are the best. If that keeps happening, our numbers will dwindle down to nothing."

"At any rate, we need to nip this in the bud. Erwin is getting too much power," the commander of the military police, Colonel Nile Dawk stated.

Nile was a man of average height and build with short, black hair that was cut shorter on the sides and back. His eyes were dark while sporting a very light mustache and goatee. He wore the standard military uniform bearing the Military Police symbol in addition to a bolo tie.

"Enough chatter! The supreme commander's here. Ten-hut!"

The soldiers snapped to attention when the horse drawn carriage carrying General Zackary stopped at the entrance, allowing him walk out. The general looked around as the soldiers saluted. Then he returned their salute and walked inside.

General Darius Zackary had the typical appearance of an old man. His sunken, tired-looking eyes were under his glasses along with the noticeable wrinkles on his face. In addition to that his receding hair was silver/white as was his scruffy beard and mustache. He was rather short wearing a plain white shirt with normal dark colored pants along with a bolo tie. Over all these clothes he wore a brown trench coat that had a white cross over a black background for the symbol.

Upon taking his seat in front of everyone there, the general decided the meeting should begin after members of the Military Police had brought Johnny there in chains and locked him into a large bar that came up from the floor, forcing him to his knees.

Johnny looked around the larger than life courtroom which was a mostly boring, brown color. Upon noticing Colonel Erwin Smith, Captain Levi Ackerman, and Major Zoe Hange regarding him from the rafters, his eyes turned towards Ranma sitting straight with her hands clasped in her lap.

While everyone regarded him, Johnny gazed upon Ranma's visage, noticing how her well-formed body moved with every breath. Even her luscious dark red hair was breath taking as her twinkling blue eyes looked on him, prompting him to overtly smile at her.

"_It's nice to see Johnny taking all of this so well. I wonder how skilled he is at flying. Could he actually fly in his titan form?"_ Ranma thought.

"_Ranma is so beautiful. After this trial is over, I'll go over to her and use my charm on her. Then she'll be mine. We have to finish this war with the titans as soon as possible so we can be together."_

"This military tribunal is open to the public, seeing as everyone has seen what happened a few days ago. Johnny Sako, you have sworn to sacrifice your life for the good of humanity, is that correct?" General Zackary said upon reading a piece of paper.

"Yes, sir!" Johnny answered.

This tribunal will be held under military not civilian law with the final decision being mine. Thus your fate will be decided here," General Zackary stated.

"This whole deal is bogus," Ranko whispered, prompting Ranma who sat next to her to shush her.

"Do you have any objections?"

"No, sir."

"Good, I'll get to the point. Concealing your existence has proven impossible. Therefore we must make your existence public in some form lest a civil war occurs and wipes out humanity.

"Even though you're a recently graduated cadet, the Military Police believe it would be better if you were exterminated. First, I'll let the Military Police put forth their opinion."

"Colonel Nile Dawk, commanding officer of the Military Police, reporting, sir. After a thorough investigation of Johnny's body, we believe he should be eliminated. While it's true his titan power helped to overcome our most recent peril, his continued existence threatens a civil war. So we want him to die for the sake of humanity."

Then the High Priest of the Wall Cult which worshipped the walls that surrounded them broke in. "Noo!"

High Priest Nicholas was a very tall man at six feet four inches tall and older looking with noticeable wrinkles on his forehead and around his eyes, which had dark circles over them. His hair was high up on his head and was parted to the left, with the sides and back being much shorter. In addition to that, he wore a white robe with three golden colored bands over his shoulders that had the symbols of the three Walls on them which was a man's face looking to the right with a hat on his head.

"That's one of the Wallists. Five years ago nobody paid much attention to them, but since Wall Maria has been breached they've attained a great deal of clout and a huge following," Armin explained to Ranko who sat next to him.

"He has defied the walls that embody the wisdom of the gods. He must die! Execute him at once!" the priest screamed.

"Are you referring to how he stopped to repair the wall after turning himself into a titan and defeating the other titans? What he did was a good thing," a hefty merchant sitting next to the priest said.

"How dare you…"

"Order!" General Zachary announced, pounding his gavel down.

"Now we'll hear from the Survey Corps."

"Colonel Erwin Smith of the Survey Corps, sir! My proposal is that Johnny would stay with us and help us use his newly found power to retake Wall Maria. Besides, we already have the titan who cut through the wall of the Nedlay district. Let the Military Police dissect him. There's no need to treat Johnny like that when he's been a faithful soldier for humanity," Erwin said upon rising to his feet.

"That's it?"

"Yes, sir. We can recover lost territory with Johnny's help. It's obvious what our priorities should be."

"I see. And where do you plan to begin this mission?"

Then the general turned towards, "Colonel Pixis, has the Nedlay wall has been completely sealed?"

"Yes, sir, along with the Trost wall as well. As things stand, the Trost Gate can never be opened again."

"The plan is for us to set out from Karanese to the east. From there we'll proceed from Shiganshina and determine the route as we go," Erwin answered.

"Wait a minute! Shouldn't we just seal the wall gates once and for all?! The Colossal Titan can only destroy the gates. If we reinforce them, we won't have to endure anymore attacks," the merchant from previously announced as he rose to his feet.

"Silence, you merchant dog! With the titan's power, we can return to Wall Maria!" another person from the rafters shouted out.

"We can no longer indulge your delusions of grandeur!" the merchant answered back.

Then Levi stepped in. "You talk an awful lot, you fat pig. How do you know the titans won't simply attack us while we're trying to seal the gates? The 'we' you speak of are you and your merchant friends who only wish to line your pockets. The fact that there are people starving because there isn't enough land to grow crops and feed cattle doesn't really matter to you and your friends, does it?"

"We just thought we could survive by sealing the gates," the merchant responded.

"Silence, you impious traitor! Mere humans altering the walls that are gifts of the gods is blasphemy!" the high priest screamed, turning towards the merchant next to him.

"It seems that everybody here has their own agendas," Ranko commented to no one in particular.

"Yes, that's true," Ranma replied.

As the high priest and the merchant argued back and forth, General Zachary pounded the gavel down. "Order! Order! You can discuss your personal philosophies and opinions at another time. Johnny Sako, I wish to confirm something."

"Sir?"

"Are you prepared to use your titan powers for the good of humanity?"

"Yes, I am!" Johnny answered back.

"I see."

"How about those two girls from Karanese who've gone over the walls in order to pilfer the dead!" the merchant called out.

"Whaaat?!" the priest next to him announced.

"That's right. Those two redheads," the merchant pointed at Ranma and Ranko with a wry smirk, "have gone over the walls into titan infested territory in order to bring merchandise and ingredients that are in short supply around here. Just a few days ago, they patronized an expensive restaurant, an establishment far over their pay grade. Then they paid for their expensive meal with gold coins!"

"Order! Johnny is the one on trial here, not a couple of cadets fresh out of boot camp," the general demanded with a pounding of his gavel.

"But it's true! Not only are these two girls more capable than anyone else, they've taught their weird skills to the other cadets. How long will it be before they gather all kinds of material and put the merchant guild out of business?!"

"Order! I find it hard to believe a couple of girls could go beyond the walls and bring back enough products to put the whole merchant guild out of business. First off, how would they carry so much material over the walls?" the general said, prompting everyone else there to laugh.

"_It was great getting to smoke those rare cigars that I haven't had since Wall Maria was breached. It was nice having pomegranates too. The last thing I want is for my new suppliers to be put on trial along with this guy,"_ the general thought to himself.

Then the high priest piped in, turning his head and regarding the merchant shrewdly. "If these girls are really capable of going over the walls and bringing products over it, it would make sealing the walls rather mute, now wouldn't it?"

"Why you…"

Johnny had had enough! "You want answers?!"

"Yes, we want answers. We want the truth!" the merchant demanded.

Then Johnny rose to his feet despite being chained up. "You can't handle the truth! All you care about is your own selfish agendas!"

"What did you just say? How dare you?" Colonel Nile Dawk said with menace.

"None of you have ever even seen a titan! You cowards! If you are so afraid of the titans, put your hopes and faith in me and the Survey Corps!" Johnny screamed, his battle aura aroused and barely visible.

"Get your weapon ready!" Dawk ordered the subordinate next to him who quickly complied and got set to gun Johnny down.

However, at that moment, Levi appeared next to Johnny and struck him with a powerful kick, knocking him to the side. Then he proceeded to hit him again and again.

"Ooh!" Johnny moaned, as he reeled with the blows.

"Pain is the best way to train someone. You should be trained like a dog, not a man. It's easier to kick you while you're down as well." Levi kept kicking Johnny who then slumped to the floor in pain.

"He shouldn't do that," Ryoga said as he rose from his seat.

"Calm down, Ryoga," Mikasa said with a hand on his shoulder.

"Levi, it's too dangerous," Dawk called out as everybody there stood in shock over what he was doing to Johnny.

"What? Weren't you going to dissect him? He defeated a powerful titan that slaughtered several soldiers in the Nedlay District. But no matter how tough he is, he's no match for me. Can anybody else here say the same?" Levi looked around at the Military Police, the priest, the merchant, and everybody else there, daring them to answer his question.

"Sir, I have a proposal," Erwin requested with his hand in the air.

"Go on," the general said with a wave of his hand.

"Johnny Sako's titan powers are unknown at the moment, so I suggest that Levi take full responsibility to control Johnny while we embark on our mission to Wall Shina."

"Will Johnny be there as well?"

"Yes, sir. Based on the results of the mission, you can decide what to do with Johnny later," Colonel Erwin stated.

"Can really you keep him in control?" the general asked, looking at Levi.

"I'm sure I can kill him if I have to. There's nothing else to be done if he gets out of control," Levi answered.

"Then my decision is made."

AUTHOR'S NOTES: So what does everybody think?


	10. Tests on Titans

Attack on Ranma

Chapter Ten

"_THOUGHTS"_

XXX

Ryoga, Johnny, and several other scouts in Levi's squad made their way on horseback through the forest towards the former headquarters of the Survey corps which was nothing more than a remodeled old castle, fit to be called headquarters only in appearance.

One of the scouts riding towards the new headquarters was Oluo Bozado. Oluo spoke in an exaggerated, upper class, nasal manner as soon as the castle came into view. He had a much older appearance than his peers, having more pronounced wrinkles despite being around the same age as the others. He sported a similar hairstyle as Levi and even fashioned a cravat, imitating his Captain's signature look. However, his eyebrows were contorted in a condescending manner while his dirty-blond hair was short around the sides and back. He also had small, hazel eyes, as he dressed in the standard Survey Corps garbs, wearing the cape on missions.

"In reality the fact that HQ was located in a place like this, miles away from the river and the wall shows that they deemed the scouting legion an unneeded and useless division."

"In the beginning they only paid lip service to us. But to think that this overblown decoration called our HQ would actually come in handy someday as the most suitable prison to hold you in, Johnny. Life's funny that way," Oluo commented.

"Uh, yeah," Johnny said.

At that point, Oluo turned towards Ryoga. "And don't think I've forgotten about you either, hero. You're barely a scout yourself since all you've done during these past three years was on the job training. And no one's the least bit impressed with you using simple geometry to pick up that giant sized boulder and plug up that hole. Aaarrgghh!" the scout screamed as his horse almost tripped on a stone, sending him off balance, prompting both Johnny and Ryoga to raise their eyebrows as Oulo bit his tongue.

XXX

"A bitten tongue is precisely what you get for chatting away so arrogantly while riding a horse," Petra said as she leaned against a wall of their new HQ while Ryoga and Johnny tended to everybody's horses.

"First impressions make it or break it, baby. Those noobs got scared outta their pants with just a bitten tongue," Oluo said as he sat on the ground a few feet from her.

"I think they were just shocked to see how much of a dumbass you are."

"Whatever. I made my point," Oluo answered.

"Look, you used to talk in the normal way in the past, didn't you? If you adopted that manner of speech in your attempt to imitate the captain, then please stop. You're nothing like him at all."

"Hmph! Why are you nagging me, Petra? If you want to act like my wife, there are other ways you can do that which are much more pleasing."

"Aren't you getting a little too big for your britches just because the captain chose you? You should have just bitten that tongue of yours off and died," Petra said with her hands on her hips and a glare on her face.

"Even as a joke, it's not funny to wish death on your comrades, baby."

Then another of Levi's squad walked towards the two scouts with his cape billowing in the wind. He was slender yet wiry with strong limbs. Joachim Halfte was somewhat handsome with medium length sandy blond hair parted to the sides and light brown eyes.

"I don't know about Johnny, but Ryoga has proved himself a capable soldier against the titans, Oluo," Joachim said.

"Oh, really? Just because Ryoga saved your life doesn't mean he's deserving of any more respect than I'm giving him," Oulo answered, regarding Joachim with a sharp look.

FLASHBACK

Joachim swung through the town via his 3DM gear. As a large, potbellied, 40 foot titan came into view, Joachim attached a line into its shoulder. Then he shot into it, whipping out his blades and slicing off the nape of its neck as soon as he got close enough. However, he was unaware of another titan who crept up to him quietly and quickly, reaching out with his wide open maw and clamping on him from the waist down.

Before Joachim knew what was happening, he found himself in the mouth of the tanned titan, allowing him to smell the stench filled breath of his devourer. The titan with short black hair stood in the middle of the street with his arms to the side with houses on either side of him as if standing in a victory pose of some kind.

"Ungh! Just watch, you bastards! Mankind will survive and destroy you all!" The titan seemed to be staring off into space as it continued to suck him further into its mouth until Joachim took out a broken blade from its scabbard and stabbed the titan with it.

After looking downward at the blade that was stuck in its cheek for a moment, the titan chomped down hard on its victim, making blood splurt everywhere.

"Aaarggh!" the man screamed as the creature practically bit him in half.

"You bastards will all fall to Captain Levi! Huff!" Joachim screamed as a line shot past the back of the titan that held him in the grasp of its maw. Then Captain Levi shot into the titan from the line, spinning around as he cut off the nape of its neck, causing the killed titan to go crashing to the ground, spitting out its captive. Then Levi landed on top of a nearby building.

"_One on the right, two on the left,"_ the captain thought to himself as the titans approached.

"Captain, I've gathered the reinforcements!" Petra said as she landed a few feet from Captain Levi with Uld and Gunther right behind her.

"Where's Ryoga?" Levi asked.

"He and some others are still engaging a particularly large group of titans at the moment, but he'll get here as soon as they're finished with them."

"All right, tend to the soldier down there. The rest of you attack the one to the right. I'll clean up on the left," Levi said as he leapt off of the roof.

"Captain!"

After Levi had taken off after the two titans, Petra landed by the injured soldier whose body was barely holding together.

While the other two leaped off the building towards the fifty foot titan with a moustache and his hair slicked back, it dived towards them, prompting the scouts to use their 3DM gear to shoot off to either side of it, getting out of the way.

"Yahoo!" Major Hange yelled as she went flying through the air over the street towards the mustached titan who turned around as she landed on the top of a building several yards away from the titan.

"Don't worry, big guy. I'm not gonna hurt you," Hange said as the towering titan made its way towards her with clenched teeth as he looked down on her. Then he swung his hand which was bigger than the major's whole body, trying to grasp her as she leaped out of the way.

"Not quite!" Hange called out as she maneuvered to her left, shooting off and swinging behind the unsuspecting titan which allowed her to slice off the nape of its neck. As it came crashing to the ground, Hange leaped away, safely landing a few yards away from it.

"Gotcha! See? That didn't hurt much, did it?" Hange said as she looked over her shoulder at the blood on her green scout's cape dissipating into smoke.

While this was going on, Levi had leapt onto another building, calmly walking towards the two fifty foot titans, one of them craning its head towards him with his mouth open wide as it growled in a low base tone. Despite all this, Levi was undaunted as he continued to make his way towards it.

"What a lovely bunch. You all have such interesting faces," Levi said as he shot a line into the side of another building and swung around several yards in the air at the back of the large mouthed titan. Then he sliced off the nape of its neck, sending it crashing to the ground.

As the other titan closed in, Levi shot high into the sky and threw two blades right into the eyes of it.

"AAAGGH! AAGGGHHH! AAARRRGGH!" it cried out as it put its hands over its eyes in pain. Upon blinding the giant, Levi landed on the top of its bald head.

"Easy, big stuff. Nobody likes a crybaby. Now stay still while I get a clean cut of your flesh."

As the titan wavered, Levi shot up into the sky again whipping out new blades. Then he came crashing down on his prey, slicing off a huge chunk out of the back of its neck.

"AAAAGGGHH!" it screamed as it went crashing into the ground face first.

Levi stood on top of a building, admiring his handiwork as smoke and dust appeared all over the place. Then he regarded the state of the blade he had used to cut the titan down which was smoking and filthy.

"Sorry, I'm late! We were barely able to finish off the titans at… What happened?" Ryoga hailed as he landed on the ground across from Petra.

"I can't stop the bleeding!" Petra sobbed as she had her hand and a handkerchief on the man's bleeding waistline.

"Is he still alive? Let me see." At that point, Ryoga pulled a small green bean out of his subspace pocket. Then he placed it in the man's mouth and made him chew it.

"What are you doing?" the girl asked.

"We can't spare this man; he fights!" Ryoga said as the soldier's wounds began to disappear. In a couple of seconds, he opened his eyes as Ryoga helped him to his feet.

"I thought I was done for," the Joachim said.

"What's going on here?!" Levi demanded as he appeared in front of them. A look of shock and surprise shown on his face as he saw the previously injured scout standing on his own two feet.

"Ryoga placed some kind of lentil in his mouth and now it's as if he wasn't injured at all!" Petra exclaimed.

"Levi! We're going back!" Colonel Erwin announced from horseback as he and a couple others stopped a few feet from them.

"Back? We haven't reached our limit yet. Did some of my men die in vain?" Levi said as the colonel regarded him without showing any emotion.

"The titans have all started heading north towards the city. It's just like five years ago. They might have even broken through the wall."

"I better get a bird's eye view!" Ryoga announced as he took to the skies dozens of yards from the ground. As soon as he was high enough, he whipped out a pair of binoculars and gasped at what he saw.

"Oh, no!" he yelled as he shot off in the direction of the city.

"Ryoga, come back!" his captain ordered in vain.

"That's all right, Levi. We all need to get there as soon as possible!" Erwin stated.

FLASHBACK ENDED

"I've been wondering about that, Joachim. Did what Ryoga put in your mouth make you more vital?" Petra asked with a tilt of her head in his direction.

"I think so," Joachim answered.

"Ever since that day, you've been stronger and faster. That's the only reason you'd ever be allowed in this squad," Oluo said.

"That's right. Almost dying made me appreciate life more." _"What exactly did Ryoga put in my mouth though?"_

"_So all these people were chosen by Captain Levi to keep me under watch? The unit I was assigned to is this special operations squad, also known as Levi's squad. These people are under orders to keep me in check when I use my titan powers and finish me off if I get out of line. Even Ryoga's here to help out just in case something goes wrong,"_ Johnny thought. Then he noticed Ryoga regarding him.

"Where is the key that was around your neck? Ryoga asked.

"Colonel Erwin has it. As the situation changes he might let me have it again."

"Did you really have a dream that my father injected you with something and told you to hold that key?" Ryoga asked.

"Yeah, but I'm not too sure it was a dream though. Have you really lived outside the walls for an extended length of time?"

"Yes. As it is, the rest of the world is overrun with titans. And on top of all that, there's nowhere else to live besides these walls," Ryoga explained soberly.

"Do Ranma and Ranko come from outside the walls too?" Johnny asked.

"Yes."

"Is the outside world where you got those senzu beans?" Johnny asked.

"Not quite. It was that alternate universe I inhabited for a while."

"Well, I'm glad you brought those beans with you. You've saved the lives of some brave warriors whom the human race could ill afford to lose. But since you only have a finite amount of those I have an idea," Johnny suggested answered.

"What's that?"

"Take all of them and cut them in half. That way you'll have twice as much. Those beans are powerful from what I've seen," Johnny said.

"That's not a bad idea. I'll have to tell Ranma and Ranko about that since they have a number of senzu beans on them as well."

"What are you guys talking about?" a tall, handsome scout with long black hair and glasses demanded, landing a few feet in front of them.

"Mousse Enteman?"

"Yeah, it's me." Mousse answered, recognizing the last name he had chosen for himself as soon as he had figured out where the walls were located.

"Even though you look like everyone around here you carry yourself like a Chinese. Did you travel all the way out here from China?"

"It's a long story, but suffice it to say my great-grandfather foresaw what was going to happen and made sure I was ready," the long haired martial artist answered.

"I thought you lived in a matriarchy?" Ryoga asked.

"I did, but my great-grandfather still understood what was going to happen. He even fixed things so that I would be able to learn Amazon techniques that males were normally barred from learning. I also learned martial arts outside Joketsuzoku and magic tricks."

"I've heard of that place, but that still doesn't explain how you got all the way out here. Even though you learned how to fly from me rather quickly, you still weren't able to do that before you met me," Ryoga said.

"There was a large, flying horseless carriage which I had to power myself hidden within the Great Wall of China that allowed me to fly over the titans. Thanks to my great-grandfather I knew where I was going," Mousse answered.

Then Mousse turned towards Ryoga. "And yes, what you taught me was very helpful. The devices I've been using from before I met you have made me more maneuverable in the air than you are. But I appreciate the help you've given me," Mousse answered.

"I see, so you're Chinese after all even if you don't even look Chinese. Despite all that, the fighting styles I've seen you use resemble Asian martial artists," Ryoga said.

"_This guy looks like a Western version of Mousse from one of the places I inhabited for a while,"_ Ryoga thought to himself.

"I have no idea how you would even know what a Chinese looks like. But to answer your question, when my great-grandfather foresaw the calamity that was coming due to the titans, he used his skills and Jusenkyo water to alter my appearance so I would fit in around here."

"I wish he would have come with me, but he was really old and felt he wouldn't have been able to make the trip. And he wanted to die with his family outside of the Amazon village, so I hope he died the way he wanted," Mousse explained.

Ryoga looked at Mousse with sympathy for a moment. Then he and Johnny continued with the work of feeding and watering the horses while Mousse looked on.

In another part of the area, Gunther Schultz and Captain Levi looked up at the dilapidated construction around them.

"The building is a bit desolate since it hasn't been in use for a long time," Lieutenant Gunther Schultz said to the captain.

"This is gonna be a big problem so get to work, on the double. Hey, Mousse! Make yourself useful and start cleaning the top of our new headquarters!"

"Yes, sir!" Mousse snapped at attention as he shot upwards towards the top of the building.

XXX

"I'm finished with cleaning the second floor, sir," Johnny called out from behind Levi who had just opened a wooden window with a handkerchief over his nose and mouth.

"Good."

"So where am I going to sleep?"

"Your room is in the dungeon," Levi answered.

"Huh? Another dungeon?"

"Of course. You can't exactly control yourself, after all. And if you turn into a titan in your sleep, we'll be able to restrain you in the dungeon. That's one of the conditions that we had to accept when you were released to us. That's just one of the rules we have to follow."

"Yeah, all right."

"Now I'm going to check the rooms you've cleaned. You can start cleaning in here."

"Yes, sir." Johnny said as he watched him go. Then Petra Ral walked in the room.

"You look upset," the girl said.

"I guess you heard all of that?!"

"Most of it. But it's not rare for people to get upset after talking to Levi. He's not what people expect to see. He doesn't look like the flawless hero they imagine, starting with his short stature. He's also unexpectedly tense, rude, and unapproachable," Petra said with a broom in her hands.

"What I personally found unexpected about him is that he obeys his superiors' orders without objection."

"You thought that since he's strong and influential, he wouldn't care much about things like ranks and the chain of command?" Petra asked.

"Yes, I didn't expect him to submit to anyone's orders. Well, I don't know the details, but it seems that in the past he was very similar to what you described. I heard that before joining the scouting legion, he was a thug in the underground," Johnny answered.

"I don't know what happened, but it seems like he joined the legion giving in to Colonel Erwin," Petra said.

"To the colonel?"

"Hey, Johnny!" Levi said, breaking in the conversation.

"Yes, sir!" Johnny snapped as Petra quickly acted as if she had been cleaning as Levi looked at her sharply.

"Those rooms aren't clean enough. Go back and do it them over again. Now I'm going to the roof where Ryoga and Mousse are cleaning. I hope those guys have made their flying skills useful for a change."

XXX

After all the cleaning was finished, all of Levi's crew sat at the dinner table with coffee, after having eaten their meal.

"Even though we're under orders to stand by for a few more days, I heard that a large-scale expedition to the outer lands is being prepared. And in addition to that, freshly graduated recruits will join us in it. Is that true, Johnny, Ryoga?" Uld asked.

"That's too sudden. Not to mention that those new recruits have just survived the titan's attack from the other day," Gunther said.

"I bet they were shocked and wet their pants in fear at the time," Oulo said with a wry smile.

"Is that true about the expedition, Captain?" Petra asked.

"Strategizing doesn't fall under my responsibilities. It's up to the colonel to decide. He always thinks a few more steps ahead of the rest of us at any rate," Levi answered.

"True, the situation has changed. The route for Wall Maria's recovery that we paid great sacrifices to establish is gone just like that, but at the same time a new hope unlike anything ever before has appeared out of the blue. I still can't believe it, but how does it feel to become a titan?" Uld asked Johnny.

"I'm not really a titan. I'm like a giant, walking machine, like Ryoga called me, a giant robot," Johnny answered.

"You all should be aware of this already. You won't get anything new outta him other than what's already written in the reports. But that won't stop **her **from trying though, I'm sure her monkeying around with you might be the death of you, Johnny," Levi explained.

"Eh? Her?"

"Good evening, Levi's squad! How do you like living in a castle?!" Major Zoe Hange announced as she barged into the room.

"Her," Levi answered.

"It's Major Zoe Hange! Ryoga announced, prompting Johnny to look up at the newcomer who made her way to him.

"At present, I'm in charge of researching the four titans we captured alive in the city. And I'd like you to assist me in my experiment tomorrow, Johnny," Hange said with excitement.

"Experiment? I'll be sure to do everything I can to help!" Johnny responded.

"Oh, goodie!" the major trilled.

"But I'm not all together free to decide what I can and can't do," Johnny said as he gave a look in Captain Levi's direction.

"Captain, what plans do you have regarding Johnny for tomorrow?" the major asked.

"He'll be cleaning the yard along with Ryoga."

"Can't Ryoga clean the yard by himself?" Hange asked.

"I suppose so," Levi answered.

"What?!" Ryoga broke in.

"All right! Then it's settled Johnny, see you tomorrow!"

"Ah, OK. I would like to ask you, though, what is this experiment you're talking about?" Johnny asked.

"_You moron! Don't ask her that! Not that!"_ Oluo thought.

"Oh, I thought so. You look like you'd want to know. Well, in that case, I guess, it can't be helped. I'll tell you all about it. What I want to try with the titans we captured is…"

At that point everyone got up and left. As if taking a cue, even Ryoga left, looking over his shoulder at Johnny and the major.

FLASHBACK

"Good morning!" Zoe said, looking up at one of the titans her men had captured. It had medium cropped blond hair and blue eyes that blankly regarded the happy major while its neck was tied with over a dozen ropes as its body was pounded into the ground by countless nails. Thus it was on its knees with being only able to move a little bit.

It wasn't the first time they had managed to capture a titan alive. Thus they had started with the same experiment they had conducted five other times in the past which was trying to establish communication.

"Major, don't get so close to him!" Lieutenant Moblit Berner, the second in command of her squad warned.

Moblit Berner had short smooth brown hair and light brown eyes, standing at five feet eight inches tall with a slightly broad shouldered physique.

"How are you feeling? What is your name? Do you hurt anywhere?" Hange said with dozens of the titan's captors a few feet behind her. Then the titan lunged at her!

"Whoa! Careful, not so fast!" Hange yelled as she leaped backwards on her feet like a cat just missing the titan's teeth.

Unfortunately, establishing communication proved impossible that time as well as all the other times. However, the time spent trying to interact with the titans was so productive in her mind that Hange had forgotten all about the tiredness she had felt.

"Major, it's really dangerous!" Moblit called out.

Hange had named this 4 meter class titan with blond hair Sonny. She named the other one which was a 7 meter class titan with black hair Bean. Bean was lying on its stomach having been nailed to the ground as well. She hadn't gotten around to naming or trying to communicate with the other two titans whom she had decided to leave in reserve just in case something happened to the two titans with which she had been dealing.

XXX

The next day, they put the titans under conditions of sunlight deprivation which was designed to prove that a titan's vitality weakens as the night deepens and heightens in sunlight. However, the reactions varied greatly from each one.

Sonny's liveliness had slumped significantly after an hour of being deprived of sunlight while Bean stayed active after 3 hours into sunlight deprivation.

FLASHBACK ENDED

"That surprised me yet again. They don't need food or water, and even though they have vocal organs, they can't talk and there's no need for them to breathe. The only thing they need for their life activity is sunlight. Naturally, I'm curious what would happen if they cut off sunlight from them forever, but that won't do if they die, so…"

Upon noticing Johnny regarding her strangely, the major jumped up from her seat next to Johnny with a maniacal smile. "The next stage of my experiments will involve coming into a direct contact with their bodies. Then we'll look into how the titans feel pain."

XXX

The next day, Major Hange and Johnny made their way towards the titan, Bean, bright and early in the morning.

"Johnny, this is my second-in-command, Lieutenant Moblit Berner. Moblit, this is Johnny Sako. After greetings were exchanged they got down to business.

"Wait, is this the guy who can turn into a titan?" Moblit asked.

"I don't turn into a titan. I simply have the ability to turn into a mechanical giant!" Johnny answered hotly.

"Oh. Well, make sure you warn us in advance before you do any growing. The guards around here can get rather testy."

"Understood," Johnny said.

"Now, let's get started. We need to confirm that titans have no weak spots other than the nape of their necks," Hange said.

Sometime later, Hange used a sharpened ten foot pole to stab the titan named Bean in the eye. "AAAARRGGHH!"

"Aaaaaggh!" Zoe screamed as well as everybody else there watched in awe.

"Major, is there any need for you to be screaming?" Moblit asked.

"As if I could do this without screaming when Bean is in so much pain!" Hange cried.

"Bean, do your best and hang in there!" Zoe cried out as the titan's mouth opened wider in its screams.

"Does she know what's she's doing?" Johnny asked Moblit.

"I don't know, but she does things like this all the time."

"All right, if something goes awry, I'm going to grow to titanic heights. Just letting you know that right now."

Moblit turned towards Johnny with a start then calmed down. "OK. Thanks for letting me know in advance," Moblit answered.

XXX

Later on, Major Hange was dealing with the titan, Sonny with Johnny and Moblit behind her.

"See? I stabbed you in the heart. Don't you feel pain? What do you feel, then?" Hange said as she stabbed him.

Then Sonny opened his mouth wide.

"Hmm? What is it? What's wrong?" Hange asked in anticipation. Then the titan quickly lunged forward.

"Yeow!"

"Look out!" Johnny called out as he shoved her out of the way. Then Johnny saw the open maw of the creature make its way towards him.

"Look out, Johnny!" Moblit yelled too late as the titan bit into Johnny's torso.

"Aaarrgh! F$# !" Then Johnny increased his size, breaking out of the creature's closing mouth, breaking teeth upon his escape before landing on the earth. Then the titan looked up in surprise at the twenty-five foot robotic giant Johnny who promptly smashed its head into the ground.

"Careful, Johnny! Don't kill Sonny!" Zoe called out as she moved forward.

"Major, stay back, please! You're gonna die at this rate!" Moblit said as he dragged her back away from Johnny and the titan.

"I'm sorry about that! Heh, heh."

"You all right, Johnny?! Moblit said, looking up at him.

"That thing bit me! Ouch!" Johnny said, rubbing his chest. Then after making sure the creature with his smoking head which was healing despite the fact that Johnny more than fractured its skull was properly restrained, the larger than life scout turned around and noticed everyone besides Zoe and Moblit had their swords and guns drawn against him.

"It's another titan! It's free!" a guard screamed in terror.

"Take it easy, everybody! Johnny's on our side! Stand down! Johnny, it's best if you shrink back down to normal size."

"All right, Lieutenant," Johnny said as he complied, making white smoke permeate the area where his giant sized body was as he shrunk to normal size.

In giddy surprise, Zoe Hange ran up to the former giant. "Ooh! You're titan form looked like living metal. You even changed from your normal size!"

"I don't know. I felt that the size I acquired was what was needed at the time," Johnny answered.

XXX

Upon the end of the day, Major Hange, Lieutenant Berner, and Johnny were sitting in the same room they had been in the night before.

"That was horribly dangerous, Major. Sonny almost killed you. As it is, Johnny got bitten," Moblit said in concern.

"Oh, that. It's just that Sonny isn't any good at expressing himself. All he tried to do is take a bite out of me," Zoe said.

"Why do you sound so joyful talking about titans? If it wasn't for me, that titan would have eaten you up all together," Johnny said.

"Oh, that. I knew you were there, Johnny I wouldn't have gotten so close to it otherwise. You did a good job protecting me and I appreciate it. We learned a lot from the titans that day. And I got to see you turn titan yourself," Zoe explained.

"I'm not a titan. I can simply grow…"

"Yes, yes. I remember you saying that before. Sonny couldn't help what he did," the major said in reply.

"But the titans are our natural enemies who drove mankind to the brink of extinction. As it is, they killed my parents," Johnny explained.

"I've seen my comrades getting killed by titans right before my eyes countless times. When I first joined the scouting legion, I fought titans relying on my hatred to get me through the fight. But one day I realized something. It was when I kicked and sent the freshly severed head of a 3M class titan flying. The titan's body was improbably light."

"Eh?"

"If you think about it, you'll realize that a huge body like that can't stand much less walk with just two legs. And that lightness applies to the bodies of all titans. A severed hand that should have been quite heavy, in reality was almost weightless. That's why Ranma and Ranko were able to carry live unconscious titans around while flying."

"I remember that happened. I felt the head of that titan was light than it should have been when I caved it in."

Zoe continued. "I've seen you grow to the size of a titan, Johnny, and how you acquire mass from seemingly out of nowhere. So what if the true nature of these creatures is completely different from what they appear to us? The offensive approach fed by hatred has been tried for many decades now. I want to try and look at the titans at a different angle from the existing one. My attempt may prove fruitless in the end, but I'll do it anyway."

"_Ever since I joined the scouting legion, I get surprise after surprise thrown at me. Not just Hange. The place is full of oddballs. It's almost like the legion is a den of weirdos, a collection of misfits who seek changes. But that's why they're the scouting legion,"_ Johnny thought to himself.

"Johnny, if you take part in more experiments, we might be able to learn something new. And if we do, that may become a step forward for all of us. I know pinning my hopes on you makes you feel uneasy, but I'm so happy now. No one has done what you have in the past."

"Major, if it's not too much trouble, I would like to hear more about your experiments," Johnny said, prompting Moblit to turn towards him sharply.

"Eh? Are you sure?"

"Yes, we can all learn from what you're doing," Johnny answered enthusiastically.

"Yes, indeed. I did omit a lot of things in my explanation, so I'll tell you everything in details. It might take some time, though."

XXX

Later the next day when the sun came up:

"And so there were now new discoveries in that experiment. Every soldier learned that much back in their trainee days. You should know that from your training as well, Johnny."

"Yes, I know all that…"

"Good, then I'm gonna explain to you how my original concepts deviate from the conventional ones once again."

"Huh? But it's morning already," Johnny said as Moblit drowsed off into sleep.

"First, let's talk about attempts at establishing communication. There was a curious precedent with Ilse Langner…"

"Is Major Hange here?!" a messenger called out as he burst into the dining hall. "Our test subjects have been destroyed."

"Whaaat?!"

XXX

"Nooo!" Hange screamed upon seeing the smoking bodies of Sawney and Bean.

"What about the two others we've held in reserve?!" the major asked desperately.

"Those have been destroyed too, Ma'am," the soldier answered.

"You gotta be kidding me. Was this a soldier's doing?"

"The culprit is still unknown at this point. Just before dawn, the four titans were slaughtered at the same time, it seems. When the guards noticed what was going on, the culprit was already far away with the help of his 3DM gear," another soldier said.

"A premeditated plan, huh?"

"Look at the major, she's going mental," a guard said to another from a few yards away.

"Too bad the titan next to her didn't go off and die too," the other guard said in reply.

"They were our valuable specimens. Just what kind of an idiot could do this?!"

"And if it wasn't an idiot, then who? I can't even guess."

"Let's go. The military police will deal with the rest," Levi ordered his squad.

"Johnny."

"Colonel?"

"What does it look like to you? Who is the enemy in your opinion?" Colonel Erwin asked from behind him, putting his hands on his shoulders.

"I'd say it was the person who terminated our test subjects. Major Hange was making so much progress up until now."

"Good answer, Johnny." Then Erwin walked away.

XXX

Epilogue: As soldiers and civilians cleaned up the debris of the Nedlay District, Ranma removed some debris from a drenched area and noticed something.

"Ymir?"

Even though the Crystal Titan had smashed her into the ground, Ymir was holding on to life while steam came out of her flattened, prone form. Then Ranma noticed that Ymir was a half foot taller with a pair of feathery black wings coming out of her shoulder blades.

"Here, Ymir, take one of these," Ranma said as she placed a senzu bean in her mouth and made her chew it.

"Gulp! What the… Oh! Do you have some water on you?" the aviatrix asked as she got to her feet.

"Yes. Are you thirsty?" Ranma said as she handed her a canteen of water.

The winged woman rubbed the canteen, creating friction, heating it up. Then she dumped the contents on her head, shrinking back to her normal form.

"What happened, Ymir?"

"I've never felt better in my entire life," Ymir announced as she took in a large breath and regarded her rescuer.

"Well?"

"I don't have time to talk about it right now so you'll just have to trust me. And don't tell anybody what you saw me turn into."

"Does what I saw have something to do with Jusenkyo?" Ranma asked with eyebrows raised.

"I don't know the name of the place, but we need to keep it a secret, OK?"

"All right. But I hope you'll explain to me what happened at a later date, all right?" Ranma consented.

"Yeah, sure. We'll talk about it later. Thanks, Ranma. You're all right."

XXX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: All right, everybody. After reading some chapters of Attack on Titan at the behest of some of the reviewers, I realized how important Ymir was to the story so I had her survive. What does she turn into exactly? That's a tale for another chapter. In the meantime how about sending me some reviews for this chapter?


	11. Preparations

Attack on Ranma

Chapter Eleven

"_THOUGHTS"_

XXX

All of the recently graduated cadets stood at attention inside a room with a stone wall behind them in a building near where Sonny, Bean, and the other two titans had met their demise. Each of them had their 3DM gear in front of them while their hands were clasped behind their backs.

"When was the last time you replaced the shafts?" a high ranking garrison soldier asked Sasha Blouse who looked straight ahead.

"Six days ago after completing a search and destroy mission."

"It's true. All that registered," the sergeant's aid confirmed as she wrote it down.

"All right. Next!" the sergeant barked.

"Krysta Lenz, assigned to team 41."

"So sometimes you can get punished for killing titans, eh?" a cadet standing in line said.

"That's right. As weird as it sounds, those titans were precious test subjects, so now they're looking for the culprits among us trainees. As if it could be one of us!" a cadet said.

"You said it. We're all exhausted because of the body disposal operation we just finished."

"The culprits couldn't help hating those titans, I'm sure," Connie said as he stood to Armin's left.

"But still killing them is the same as helping out the titans in the long run. From the culprits' perspective they've taken their revenge on those titans, but from mankind's perspective, the culprits dealt us all a blow," Armin explained.

"I'm an idiot. And that's why I have a feeling I understand. I can't think about anything anymore. You know before I first saw a titan, I really wanted to join the survey corps. But now I can only think that I don't wanna ever see another titan again. And we have to decide on the division we'll join today. Darn. Even Jean said he would join the survey corps," Connie said.

"Eh? He is?!" Armin said with Annie standing on his right.

"Hey, Annie, what do you think? After what Jean said?" Connie asked as he craned his head in her direction.

"I'm not sure. What are you going to do, Armin?" Annie asked.

"I'm joining the scouts. I thought I had made that clear."

"Has Ranko filled your head with delusions of grandeur? You've actually made the top ten just as I did. So you should join the military police."

"I wouldn't have made the top ten without Ranko helping me," Armin said.

"So you're going to the military police, then… Should I join the military police too?" Connie interjected.

"Do whatever you want. Anyway, if someone told you to jump off the top of the wall and die would you do it?" Annie responded, turning away from him and regarding the object of her desire.

"What kind of question is that? Of course, I wouldn't," Connie answered.

"Then you can make up your mind without any help from me. Now, Armin, what would you do if you're told to die?" Annie asked.

"Well, I would if there was a good reason for me to die. I think that there might be cases when one would have to die. Of course, I'd really rather not."

"So you've made up your mind then?" Annie asked.

"Yes."

"I see. I hope you know what you're in for. But I respect the fact you have guts," Annie explained.

"Thanks."

"So you're still dead set on joining the scouts, eh, Armin?" Connie said.

"That's right."

"Annie, you're actually a nice person, aren't you?" Armin asked as Annie's eyes turned towards him.

"Hmm?" she answered with a slight blush as she regarding Armin while light from a window above him shown from behind his head, giving Armin an angelic appearance.

"Well, it looks like you're not exactly happy about me choosing to join the scouts. And I think you have your reasons for joining the military police, don't you?"

"I really haven't made my mind up about that yet, but you'll find out soon enough," Annie responded before giving Armin sharp look.

"All right, but I think deep down you're a sweet person."

"Armin!" Annie said, looking away from him with her hands on her face as her blush deepened.

"I don't believe this. First you get a rich Karanese girl who's hotter than practically anyone else around. Then you got Annie gushing over you. You're the man, Armin," Connie said.

"Be quite," Mina Carolina said from Connie's left, shushing him.

XXX

"So in the end, they didn't find the one who used the 3DM gear without authorization. I really wonder who killed those titans," Gunther said to his comrades back at the main base of the Survey Corps which was different from the castle Levi's squad normally resided in.

"I have it on good authority that the investigators searching for the one who killed those titans have a suspect already," Oluo said as he and the others sat at a table.

"Really? I have no idea what's going on with that. I'm more concerned about the introductory ceremony at the moment," Uld said.

"I wonder how many new recruits expressed their desire to join the survey corps. Say, Ryoga. I heard your girlfriend and a few other skilled cadets are planning on joining the survey corps. Is that true?" Gunther asked.

"Yes, that's true. I know Ranma and Ranko plan to join the scouts. Even my sister and my childhood friend are joining the scouts. My friends have raised the hopes of many of the cadets through their skill and bravery. They've even saved the lives of some brave cadets who might be willing to join the survey corps," Ryoga answered.

At the same time, several cadets were standing against a wall while Connie sat down on the ground.

"Jean, why did you suddenly decide to join the survey corps? Weren't you dead set against the scouts?" Sasha asked with her eyebrows raised.

"Huh? Obviously, I'm still not exactly fond of the scouts."

"Eh? Then why did you…?" Connie broke in.

"It's not like I'm joining the scouts 'cause I have no fear of the titans. And you won't hear things like if you're a capable soldier, you have responsibility to join the survey corps from me either," Jean explained as he stared out into the horizon in front of him.

"Then what?"

"Listen, Connie, 'cause I'm only going to say this one more time. And whatever you do, don't lump me together with dumbasses like Armin and Ranko who are eager to rush to their deaths. Got it?"

"All right," Connie answered.

"It's not like I gave in to someone's persuasion to put my life on the line. In this line of work you can't get along without making important decisions for yourself."

"All right. But don't you think Ranko and Ranma are kind of strange? I mean apart from them wanting to rush into the titans and thinking we can defeat them and all, they seem to practically fly through the air as if they didn't even need their 3DM gear."

"You make a good point, Connie. It's not just that either. Whenever I enquire as to how those Karanese girls are doing something, Armin shuts me down like he's covering up for them. There is something going on with those girls and I mean to find out what."

"Soldiers in training! Line up and proceed to the front of the drill field!" a high ranking soldier called out to them.

"We'll have to finish this conversation later," Jean said as they made their way to the field.

XXX

A few moments later, all of the trainees were lined up. "I'm Colonel Erwin Smith, commander of the survey corps. The survey corps has an important objective behind its activities entrusted to us by the king. The purpose of my speech to you on this day when you are to choose the division you will join is none other than inviting you to join the survey corps," Erwin announced from a platform that was several feet higher and several yards away from the cadets facing him.

"However, because of the titans' attack the other day all of you here have already tasted what scouting outside the walls might be like. Despite the fact that you all are still trainees, you have already suffered having victims in your ranks and that in of itself is unprecedented."

"The battle's aftermath gave humanity new hopes. I'm talking about Ryoga Yeager and Johnny Sako. Thanks to your and their efforts we've succeeded in preventing the advance of the titans, and we've acquired a means to uncover the titan's true nature."

A couple of cadets in the crowd raised their eyebrows in surprise as Colonel Erwin continued talking about how Sako and the basement of a house in the Shiganshina District would be the key to eventually putting an end to the titans' rule.

"Basement, huh?" Reiner said.

"_I understand that the colonel wants to get as many new recruits as possible to join the survey corps, but disclosing that kind of information is clearly carrying it too far,"_ Armin thought.

"Wow, they've already made that kind of progress, huh?" a cadet in the crowd noted.

"If we know the titans' true nature, we'll be able to do something about our current situation!" another cadet commented.

"_No, he's got some kind of plan. What exactly is he up to? What is he really trying to achieve by all this?"_ Armin thought again.

"It sounds like we'll need to get Wall Maria under our control before we could do all that from what we're hearing," Bertolt said to Reiner.

"Yeah. The chances of most of us surviving are low as well," Reiner said.

"Those of you who choose to join the survey corps will have to participate in a scouting expedition outside the walls as soon as three months from now. There's a pressing need to make a supply route. The probability of new recruits dying during an expedition to the outer lands is 50%. Those who manage to survive it though will become excellent soldiers with a high survival rate. That's all. Those wanting to join the other divisions dismissed."

"Colonel, don't you think you intimidated them a little more than necessary?" Captain Zacharius whispered a few feet from his right.

"_That speech is sure to cut the number of our new recruits by a huge margin,"_ Ryoga thought as so many of the cadets walked away.

"_It's gut check time!"_ Jean thought to himself.

Reiner and Bert stood their ground, watching many of the numbers walk away.

"_If I don't leave this place now, I will have to face more titans,"_ Sasha thought as she recalled the time she failed to kill a titan who in turn almost devoured her.

"_Ah, I just remembered that I originally left the village to become a policeman. Mom will be happy, if I join the police. And everybody in the village will stare at me in awe,"_ Connie thought to himself as he looked around at the people making their way out.

"_We already know. We've already seen titans eating people alive,"_ many cadets thought as they each imagined titans devouring them and their comrades.

"So what are you going to do, Rally?" Ranma asked a shoulder length, black haired girl with tanned skin as she herself stood her ground.

"I'm joining the scouts," the girl stated with her fists on her hips and their shoulders out. Rally Vincent stood a few inches shorter than Ranma as she looked up at her.

"I'm happy to see you're joining the survey corps, but I don't know how much good those pistols you insist on carrying around in your subspace pouch will do against the titans," Ranma said as she regarded the black eyed gunsmith.

"I really appreciate what you and Ranko have taught me especially the ability to hide all kinds of guns on my person without anybody else knowing. And I've been able to use the pistols I've made myself to shoot out the eyes of titans miles away from me, allowing me to help my comrades from a good distance. What do you say, Minnie May? Are you joining up with the scouts too?" Rally asked her best friend.

Minnie May Hopkins was even shorter than her best friend Rally having page boy hair that was shoulder length with a cute face, blue eyes, and a curvaceous physique.

"Yeah, I'm joining. I doubt the garrison would look too kindly upon me using my small bombs against the titans. And it's a good thing I learned how to hide things in a subspace pouch too," Minnie-May explained, looking up at Ranma with appreciation.

"All right, you guys, I'm happy to see you're joining the scouts," Ranma answered.

"It looks like most everybody else is leaving. I'll just have to do something about that," Ranko said as she walked a few feet after the cadets who were departing. Then she whipped out the green scout's cape she had talked Colonel Erwin into giving her earlier, allowing it to billow in the wind on her shoulders as she leaped up into the air, practically gliding a few feet above the ground.

"Listen up, everybody! There's no point in retreating to the inner walls! We need to take the fight to the titans while we still can. And there's no point in being afraid either. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself! You all know what I'm capable of. You also know what I'm capable of teaching you. I've even saved some of your lives! So where are you going?! If the survey corps fails what will you do?!"

Some of the departing cadets turned around and regarded the redhead as the moonlight shone behind her as she kept herself aloft.

"I'm joining the scouts! Are you with me?!"

Yeah!" some of the cadets announced as they turned back towards where Ranko and some of the others were standing.

Erwin's eyes went wide in surprise upon seeing the numbers reach at least a hundred. "So, will you be able to die if you're told to?!"

"We're not planning on dying! We're going to win, sir!" Ranko shouted out.

"I can see that all of you look determined. Therefore, I welcome all of you to the survey corps and salute your bravery! Dedicate your lives to the cause!" Erwin ordered.

"Yes, sir!" the dozens of soldiers announced with a salute.

"This is it, guys," Armin said with confidence.

"I suppose so."

"Annie? I thought you were going to join the Military Police," Armin said as the sultry blond sauntered towards him.

"I changed my mind. Besides, I'm not losing you to Ranko."

"I'm already with Ranko, so if you're only joining the scouts to…"

"I'll join the scouts for any reason I please!" Annie stammered, brooking no further argument.

Then Krysta made her way to Ranko and Ranma. "I want you to teach me everything you can."

"You sure about that, Krysta?" Ranma said.

"Yes. I'll do whatever it takes. I want the titans to pay for what they did to Ymir."

"All right. We'll be happy to continue your training. But Ymir's still…" Ranma said.

"That goes for me too. If I'm gonna be here in the scouts, I wanna be as tough as possible!" Connie interjected as he appeared in front of them.

"This is the worst. I'm really a scout now," Jean said.

"Don't feel so bad about it, Jean. I'm here too."

"Marco?! Last I heard you were in the hospital!"

"I just got hit in the back of the head. But I'm all right now." Marco had told the ones investigating what had happened to the captured titans that his equipment had been taken from him. He also gave them a description of the person who had attacked him during the Crystal Titan's invasion.

"Ungh, noo! I'm scared. I want to go back to the village," Sasha cried as she crashed to the ground on her knees.

"Don't feel too bad about it, Sasha. There's plenty of food and game in the outer lands within and beyond Wall Maria," Ranma said as she made her way towards her and put a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Really?" Sasha said as her countenance brightened.

"Yes. If you pay attention to what Ranko and I tell you, we'll take you along when we go hunting for extra provisions."

"You'd do that?"

"Yes, there are plenty of forest animals that have multiplied since Wall Maria has been breached since the titans only eat people," Ranma commented.

"Same old Potato Girl, always thinking with her stomach," Ymir said as she regarded Sasha whose drool quickly replaced her tears.

"Ymir?! I thought you were dead!" Krysta announced as she ran over to her friend and gave her a hug.

"I'm all right. No need to get sentimental in front of everybody. And I take back the bad things I said about Ranko and Ranma. They're all right."

"And here I was all set to learn everything I could from them," Krysta answered with tears in her eyes as she held on to her.

"Keep that thought, Krysta. I plan on doing the same thing. Those Karanese girls have come through time and time again.

"That's right! We Karanese girls are the best!" Mina Carolina announced as she stepped forward with her chest out and shoulders back.

"Oh, don't get a big head over the fact that you come from the same district as Ranko and Ranma again, Mina. Sheesh!"

"We're with you too, Ranko," Hannah Diamant said as she approached her with her lover, Franz Kefka at her side.

"I'm glad to hear that, Hannah, but I can't guarantee the life of you or Franz. And things are going to get more serious from here on out."

"No problem, Ranko. Ever since that day you resuscitated me, it's like I'm a new man! I feel even stronger than I did after all the training you put me through. So you can count on me!" Franz stated with a thumb to his chest. Then he thought about the impressive amount of kills he had accumulated ever since Ranko had given him that senzu bean. He not only had become stronger and tougher, he had moved with more speed and quickness as well. Even his muscle definition and good looks had improved.

"It would be best if you both learn as much from me as possible. You're good, Franz, but you can be better," Ranko said to the confident warrior.

"We'll both get better, Ranko," Hannah said.

"I'm here too," said the youth that Ranko had saved during the Battle for the Trost District who had held on to her for dear life.

"You're joining the scouts?" Ranko asked with her eyebrows raised.

"Yep!"

"What's your name, kid?"

"I'm Mikey Robbins and I'm ready for duty!" the boy announced with pride even saluting Ranko respectfully.

The shorter youth's soft blue eyes looked up to Ranko, appearing younger than his years, being rather cute with a baby face, jet black, medium length, straight hair along with milky white skin.

"Listen, Mikey. I can't guarantee I'll always be able to protect you. And I find it strange you'd want to join the scouts after what almost happened to you."

"That's why I'm joining the scouts. What you just said was right. I'm not good enough for the Military Police and if I joined the garrison, titans might show up there too. If I join the scouts with you, I can learn from you. I'm sure you can make me strong and powerful. I've already learned a little bit from you already."

"All right, Mikey. Welcome aboard."

"The 104th survey corps salutes all 105 of you! You endured the fear well. You all are brave soldiers and I respect you for that from the bottom of my heart," Erwin announced, his eyes getting a little misty.

"Ranko really did it. This is the most number of cadets I've ever seen join the scouts in my entire career. Will we even have enough horses and equipment to go around?" Captain Zacharius asked.

"We'll manage," Erwin said with a smile.

To the surprise of Major Sal Gambino, an assistant to Colonel Nile Dawk, the commander of the military police, none of the cadets who had made the top ten wanted to join the MP's.

Sal was a short, round, muscular man with close cropped black hair, lightly tanned skin, and large beefy hands.

"Whaaat?! I was sure Ranma Sautorme and Ranko Tendeaui would have wanted to join the military police. They were the top two!" the major exclaimed incredulously.

"_Rumor has it those two have the ability to climb over the walls and gather materials that are in short supply deep inside the walls, making it back without getting eaten by titans. I can make a fortune on the black market with those two working for me. I gotta get them into the MP's!"_

At that point, Major Sal Gambino marched towards Ranko who was talking to Ranma and some other scouts.

"I don't believe it. You're joining up with the scouts?!"

"That's right, Major," Ranko answered.

"You and your friend can do very well in the MP's. It's not too late. You can still join up with us," the major stated.

"I'm fine right here, sir. Besides, I really don't like the idea of being cooped up inside the walls doing nothing but being bored."

"Who said you'd have to be cooped up inside the walls?" Sal said. Then he leaned in closer to Ranko, whispering in her ear.

"Listen, Tendeau. I know all about how you and your friend have gone over the walls and gotten merchandise in short supply around here. I can use those skills of yours. I'll even cut you in on the action. You'd be rich beyond your wildest dreams."

"Um, exactly how rich would I be if the titans over ran the walls again? I need to get myself in this battle while the…"

Then Gambino's face got red. "There's no beating the titans, you baccalà! All we can do is retreat! What kind of con game are you trying to pull by making so many cadets join up with the survey corps? All you and they can do is die!"

"I'm sorry you feel that way, sir. But I'm still sticking with my decision. There's a big world out there and I want to see…"

"That world is filled with titans who'll eat you alive! There's no way you could survive against them. I'm offering you a life of luxury and ease! Play ball with me and I'll see you promoted to officer rank! I'm making you an offer you can't refuse!"

"We're staying in the scouts, sir," Ranma answered respectively.

"What?! I came all the way out here to make you a wonderful offer and you refuse me? Never would I imagine you would treat me with such disrespect!"

Then Sal heard sniffing from behind him. "What the…"

"It's time for you to leave unless you want to join the scouts too, Major," Captain Mike Zacharius said. "And take it easy on the garlic, all right?"

After glaring at Ranko and Ranma for a moment, the major did an about face and stormed off.

XXX

During the next three months, the older members of the survey corps were surprised to see many of the cadets train under Ranko and Ranma's tutelage. Even Armin and Mikasa had helped train the others after having learned so much already themselves.

"These noobs are looking to be the best batch of recruits we've seen in a long time," Captain Zacharius said as he watched them train.

"Yes, Ranma and Ranko have brought new hope and morale to the scouts. I don't know where she came from, but I'm glad they're here," Captain Dita Ness said as he regarded them.

"What are you two looking at?" a voice said from behind them.

"Captain Levi!"

"These newbies are over rated. I frankly wish so many of the cadets hadn't joined up with us. There's too many of them for us to babysit at a time. And on top of that, they have delusions of grandeur."

"From the looks of things, they seem pretty confident," Dita Ness said.

"They're too confident. We can't afford that with what we're doing." With that, Levi did an about face and walked away.

XXX

During the three months before the next mission outside of the walls, Ranko, Ranma, Ryoga, Mousse, Johnny, Mikasa, and Armin were sitting at a round table after lunch in the survey scout's mess hall after introductions had been made.

"Now what are these senzu beans I've been hearing so much about?" Mousse asked.

"Senzu beans are small seeds that help someone who's been beaten within an inch of his life recover from serious injuries," Ryoga answered.

"Where did you get these beans from?" Mousse asked.

"I was in another universe for a period of time where I increased my physical abilities."

"Is this where you were able to channel your spirit into skill, speed, strength, and toughness?" Mousse asked, regarding Ryoga.

"Yes, that's right."

"Ah, I see."

"In addition to that, I told Ryoga earlier that it would be a good idea to take the senzu beans we have left and cut them in half."

"Why's that, Johnny?" Ranko asked.

"Those beans are powerful. And since there are only so many of them, we need to increase their number. We're the strongest ones here so after they're cut in half we'll split them among us. But we're going to have to use them sparingly."

"That's right. We can't afford to waste any of them on someone who's dead anyway, as cold as that sounds," Ryoga said

"All right. Let's put all of our beans on the table." A few seconds later, the group was looking down on the precious life sustaining seeds.

"Now all we need to do is slice them in half," Ryoga said.

"I'll do it. Everybody sit back." In seconds Ranma pounded the table prompting the beans to pop into the air. Then she whipped out her ki claws and neatly sliced all of the beans in half in a blink of an eye without missing a single one.

"Wow! That was fast, Ranma. I knew you were good, but I didn't know you were that good," Johnny said. Then he regarded Armin for a moment, noticing how strong and sturdy he was.

"Yes?" the page haired boy said in response.

"You really have gotten tougher, haven't you, Armin? I bet you're almost as strong as Ryoga," Johnny said with a chuckle.

"I doubt I'm that strong, Johnny."

"How many of those senzu beans did you gobble up while going through that bakusai tenketsu training?"

"I don't know exactly."

"Even if I helped Armin recover from the brutal training I put him through with a senzu bean here and there, he still went through a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get to where he is today. It's not as if things were a stroll in the park for him," Ranko answered.

"We can say the same thing for Mikasa. And there wasn't any need for her to intake any senzu beans," Ranma related.

"Anyway, let's divvy up these beans up before any more people see what we're doing," Ryoga suggested.

XXX

Inside the capital city in the interior where Marcel the Crystal Titan was being held with his hands tied and his mouth gagged so he couldn't bite himself, the voluptuous blond sashayed her way towards his cell where two armed guards of the military police stood watch.

The young woman wore a bare shouldered, strapless, plunging neckline, green body gown that hugged her figure tightly, showing a lot of cleavage.

"Hello there, boys," the blond said with a picnic basket in her hands.

"How did you get in here?" the shorter guard demanded.

"You need to leave this area at once!" the taller guard ordered.

"There's no need for hostility. I figured you'd like to take a break. I have some nice food in here. Wouldn't you like to partake?" the voluptuous blond said, leaning forward and showing even more territory after putting the basket down.

In his cell Marcel smiled inwardly upon seeing what was taking place. _"That's it. Charm these guys into letting their guard down until you can strike them unawares!"_

"Listen, lady. We don't have time for Tom foolery."

"There's plenty of time for Tom foolery. In fact there's time for Tom, Dick, and Harry foolery," the woman gasped, taking in a large breath.

The harsh, no nonsense look on the taller guard's face softened as he regarded the attractive female's plunging neckline.

"Look, we need to…"

"We haven't been relieved for our lunch break. Where is our relief?" the shorter guard said.

"I'll give you guys some relief," the blond said with a smile and a wink in their direction.

"What could it hurt for us to partake of her bounty? At any rate, I'm starved!" the shorter guard stammered.

"We probably shouldn't do this. Oh, what the heck!" the taller guard reached for the proffered food as his comrade did the same. Then he reached over and caressed the voluptuous blonde's backside.

"Ooh, you naught boy you!" the woman cooed.

"You know you love it. And I definitely love this food."

While eating the bread rolls stuffed with beef, spices, cheese, onions and other vegetables, the taller guard looked downward.

"And what exactly are you looking at?" the blond said, lashing her eyes at him.

"Heh, heh."

Then the shorter guard placed his foot on the bottom of the blonde's long gown that dragged on the ground. So as the young woman moved forward, her gown fell downwards.

"Huh? Oh!" the woman blushed as she covered herself up the best she could.

"Wow! This is the best time I've had on duty for a long time," the shorter guard said upon finishing the offered food.

"Now it's time for dessert," the taller guard said as his eyes didn't move away from the woman's gorgeous body.

"Whatever do you mean?" the woman said innocently.

"You know what we want, babe," the shorter guard said as he reached over and put his hands on her stomach and worked his way upwards.

"Oooh!" the blond cooed.

"Hey, save some for me!" the taller one said as he put his hand on the blonde's back and rubbed up against her.

"I saw her first." Then both of the guards began to get dizzy. In a matter of seconds they both dropped to the ground unconscious.

As Marcel regarded her from his cell, the blond crouched down and got the keys off his captors. Then she unlocked the cell and let Marcel free from his bonds.

"Whew! Getting to see you naked was worth being inside this prison for a few days," Marcel said as he ogled his comrade.

Then the blond slapped him!

"Ow!"

"Idiot! I told you to stick to the plan! And don't you dare disobey me again, you got that?! Am I going to have to tell the boss about your rash actions?" the woman said as she took the uniform off of one of the guards and put it on herself.

"No. I'll be good from now on," Marcel said, not taking his eyes off the beautiful woman.

"What are you waiting for? The other guard is about your size. Put his uniform on! Then we need to get out of here! It's quite possible the military police are on to me. So hurry up!"

XXX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: If anybody has any questions or ideas for the fanfic give me a review or message me. If you've enjoyed the fanfic and don't feel like giving a review, click the follow/fav box on the upper right side of the page.


	12. Into the Wide, Blue Yonder

Attack on Ranma

Chapter Twelve

"_THOUGHTS"_

Three months later in the Karanese District, the members of the survey corps were on their horses and wagons, ready to venture out into the world beyond the walls.

"Colonel! It's time! The titans in the vicinity are being kept away! 30 seconds till the gate opens!" a soldier shouted from top of the wall.

"At last! Mankind is about to make another step forward! Show the results of your training!" a high ranking scout announced as he put his hand up.

"Open the gate! The 57th expedition to the lands outside the walls starts now! Advance!"

As the gate opened and his eyebrows rose, Colonel Erwin Smith prompted his horse forward with Major Hange at his left and the others behind him.

While this was going on, Ranma was on a horse of her own, the plan being for her to be on the far left in order to help any stragglers and to use her unusual abilities to help reform any formations that had been destroyed if possible. At the same time, Ranko was to be on the far right doing the same as Ranma from that vantage point. At the same time, Mousse was located near the front and center.

"10 meter class titan approaching from the left!" a scout shouted out as a titan with small arms, black hair shooting upwards, and a large stomach that was bigger than the rest of his body, made his way towards the galloping soldiers.

"Blast it! It got through! Defend the formation at all costs!" a dismounted scout said as he and a few others got their swords out and swung their way towards the behemoth.

"Gulp! Oh, no!"

"Eyes front! The defense squad will handle him! Just keep going forward!" a high ranking scout ordered as he took hold of Sasha's head and made her face ahead of them when she was paying too much attention to the battle with the titans a few yards away from them.

"Advance! Advance! Advance!"

As the garrison soldiers dealt with the oncoming titans, the scouts rode further and further away from the safety and security of Wall Rose. Then they passed through the large hole created by the Colossal Titan five years previously right into the wide open space of the outside world.

"Formation for long distance enemy detection, Deploy!" Erwin ordered with a wave of his hand, prompting the formation to split into several directions.

XXX

Upon separating from the main units, Levi's squad made their way and camped out in an open area a few miles from a forest of trees several miles from the main part of the formation.

"We, the special ops squad are here. Line 5, in the center on stand by. That's quite far in the back," Gunther explained as he pointed at the map.

"Well, this is the safest spot in the entire formation. You get treatment even more special than the carts, carrying supplies, Johnny. This time our expedition is a short distance. All because it's a trial for the real thing meant to deliver you to the Shiganshina District. Our objective is nothing more than to go outside the walls and come back alive," Gunther explained.

"Hey, um. What happens if we run into some titans? Can I use my titan powers then?" Johnny asked as he thought about the time when he helped to fix up the hole in the Nedlay District.

"Did you get the meaning behind the question the colonel asked you?" Gunther asked.

"I answered the question, but if there was some hidden meaning, I didn't get it," Johnny answered.

"Hidden meaning to what?" Ryoga asked.

"Don't look at me," Oluo said as the others shook their heads.

"Maybe this time our sortie has an objective other than simply going to the outer lands and coming back alive. If so, then the colonel simply concluded there's no need for soldiers to know that. That being the case, we still have only one objective, to go outside the walls and come back alive. Trust the colonel," Lieutenant Gunther said.

A few minutes later, the scouts got on their horses and took off.

_**Line 2 center in command was where Colonel Erwin was.**_

_**Line 3 File 3 on relay duty was where Mikasa was.**_

_**Line 5 center on standby was where Levi and his squad including Ranma and Ryoga were.**_

_**Line 2 file 3 on relay duty was where Sasha, Mina, and Captain Roy Fokker were.**_

_**Line 2 file 4 on relay duty was where Armin and Mikey were.**_

_**Line 3 file 4 on relay duty was where Jean was.**_

XXX

As Sasha and Mina departed with their part of the formation on horseback, they passed by several run down houses on their left that had not been occupied in over a hundred years, barely noticing the elongated body of a crawling titan whose head smashed through the last house before the rookie scouts could pass by it. As it lunged at them, its wide open mouth and gnashing teeth attempted to take a bite out of the frightened girls.

"Look out!" Mina called out as she maneuvered her horse out of the way of the wide open maw of the ravenous titan.

"Yaaaagh!" Sasha screamed at the same time as she forced her horse to do an about face charging away from the titan that chased off after her while it attempting to take hold of Mina and her horse while crawling after them on the ground like a spider.

"Yeow!" Mina yelled as she forced her horse to make a U-turn, catching up with Sasha.

"I have to fire the red signal!" Sasha exclaimed excitedly as she fumbled through her equipment, dropping the flare gun. Then the horses shot forward in a nick of time, avoiding the chomping teeth of the fast moving titan.

"I got it!" Mina said as she shot off the flare gun. "It might be better if we split up. Then the one who doesn't get chased by the titan can double back and strike it down from behind."

"Aaaagh!" Sasha screamed as she propelled her faster horse forward, leaving Mina in the dust only to be chased by the titan.

"_Did she even hear me?"_ Mina thought as she kept her calm.

"Shoot! We failed to notice him in time, Roy!" the younger of the pair of higher ranking scouts said from a safe distance.

"Mina, head our way!" Captain Fokker called out on horseback from a few yards away. This prompted the girl whose ponytails trailed behind her to shoot off to her right, avoiding another attempt of her pursuer to take a bite out of her, its tongue being only a few feet away from her head.

"Come on!" Mina yelled as she sped up her horse and passed by the two more experienced scouts

"We need to draw him this way!" Captain Roy Fokker called out as his Lieutenant drew his horse forward, closing in on the crawling titan.

Rick Hunter was a slender young man with brown hair that was spiked upwards. He was youthful and somewhat impatient as he moved forward.

"Rick!"

"I'll draw the titan to myself!" Rick shouted out as he sped his horse forward out stripping his captain.

"Come on, big guy!" Rick called out as the titan crawled, keeping up with the fast moving horse. Rick then shot by a house with a large, thick tree near it. After Rick had ridden in between the house and tree, the titan followed, crashing into the tree thus knocking itself out.

"All right!" Rick shouted in victory.

"That was rather reckless, Rick," Roy said as Rick approached him from his horse.

"It worked, didn't it? Hey, you two! Return to your assigned positions! I've just put the kibosh on that titan!" Rick called out to the girls.

"Yes, sir!" they responded and complied. Then Mina turned towards Sasha as they rode off towards their positions.

"Did you hear what I said earlier, Sasha? We need to work as a team. This will give us a better chance of surviving."

"No, I was too busy running for my life," Sasha answered. "What was so important that trumped getting away from that titan?"

Mina glared at her partner for a moment before answering. "I was saying that one of us could have gotten away and attacked it from behind while the titan chased the other! Have all those potatoes you've eaten gone to your head?!"

"No! And there's no need for you to yell like that. I was too frightened to do anything but run away anyway!" Sasha snapped back.

"Well, we need to…"

"Yeah, I get it. It's over so just drop it!"

"Drop it?! What are you going to do if we encounter another titan?" Mina answered back hotly.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, so just drop it already!" Sasha repeated, turning towards her with a slight glare.

"I wonder if Ranko and Ranma can teach this girl courage."

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

XXX

In another area, Armin and Mikey were out in the open while riding their horses with a spare horse with them when Armin noticed something. "That's strange. It's already been quite a while since the red signal, but the formation is still in disarray. Don't tell me they…"

Armin's words were stopped when he saw the signal flare. "Black smoke?!"

A few miles away, a thirty foot, round and plump titan broke through the thick foliage of several large trees out into the open as if in a gingerly stroll. As it walked with its arms up and down at its sides, it made its way through Dita Ness and his associate, prompting each of them to tug at the reins of their horses and move them apart from each other in order to keep from getting stepped on.

"He's going straight for the center of the formation, ignoring nearby people! Is he a deviant?!" Mikey asked from a safe distance.

"Darn it. We got no choice but to attack this strutting titan! Cis, you go for the nape. I'll stop him from moving!" Dita Ness ordered as his attention centered on the Achilles tendons of the fast moving titan.

"Affirmative!" Cis said. Cis was a young man of medium size and weight with shoulder length hair done up in a ponytail.

"_The plains aren't the best place to use the 3DM gear to the fullest. So my chances of success are lower. And to top it off I'll have to do it while I'm on the ground. But I can't let him disrupt the formation. We gotta finish him off the moment he's down! If I can't do what I taught our new recruits, then who can? The ones up ahead are Bateman and Robbins. I don't want our rookies to have to face titans like this just yet. Maybe Levi wasn't far wrong about having to babysit so many newbies."_

Upon leaping off his horse, Captain Ness shot a grappling hook into the heel of the titan, sliding on the ground as he got close enough to slice through the heel, causing the titan to go crashing forward into the ground.

"Now, Cis!"

As the titan went falling, Cis moved in on the titan from his horse until he got close enough to leap off of his mount and come smashing down on the nape of the titan, slicing through it thus ending its existence.

"They did it!" Mikey announced from a few miles away.

"Whew!" Dita Ness gasped while regarding the smoking carcass with its huge ass sticking up in the air. Then his horse made his way to him.

"You came back to me. Good boy!" Upon looking up, Ness noticed something far away. Then he and Cis got back on their horses.

"Another one? Just what are our right flank lookouts doing?" Ness asked as the two rode onwards.

"If that titan's coming here, ignoring them, then it seems like that one's a deviant as well," Cis said.

"It can't be helped then Cis, we'll have to do the same thing we did just now."

"Yes, sir."

"_Twice in a row. Talk about bad luck. That one looks like a 14 meter class to boot. That's some serious trouble."_

"What on earth is that? It's moving too fast! Oh, no! At this rate Captain Ness and Cis are gonna…"Armin shouted as he saw the unusually quick footed titan from his far away vantage point.

The unusually tall titan had milky white skin, a voluptuous woman's shape and physique along with long blond hair as it ran through the two horsemen, forcing them to go their separate ways in order to keep from getting trampled.

"_It's going for Armin and Mikey!"_ Ness thought as he ordered Cis to stop her. Thus Cis shot off a grappling hook into the feminine titan's back and took off into the air with his blades at the ready. However, to the scout's surprise, the titan grabbed the grappling line and used it to slam him to the earth, stomping him into ground and killing him instantly. Then she took hold of Dita's grappling line which Ness had used to attach to her and slammed him into the ground as well. Upon the finishing her deadly work, the titan looked towards where Armin and Mikey were on their horses.

"It's coming this way!" Mikey said.

"Take the spare horse and get out of here, Mikey. I'll hold her off for as long as I can," Armin ordered.

"Her?"

"I can tell from here that the titan making her way towards us is a human in a titan's body much like the Colossal Titan Johnny fought a few months ago. Take off and tell that to the first scout you see," Armin ordered.

"What?! What can you do that Ness and Cis couldn't do?!"

"Get out of here now!" Armin ordered, prompting Mikey to take off on his horse with the other horse following after him. Then Armin redirected his own horse and charged the oncoming titan.

"_It's obvious, she's not a deviant. She'll surely try to kill me as she did Ness and Cis. At any rate I'll have to think of something before I get to her!"_

XXX

Several miles away, many survey scouts lay on the ground injured and dying, their formation having been smashed through, allowing the titans around them to scoop them up and eat them.

"Aaargh!" a scout screamed as a particularly sharp toothed titan bit on him, crunching his bones into ribbon.

"Somebody warn the rest. The right flank lookout squad is completely wiped out. A female type titan brought a large force of titans along with her. Is there anyone alive? They're gonna destroy the formation and annihilate everybody," the blinded, injured scout said to no one in particular as a titan picked him up and put his head towards its mouth and…

Then seemingly out of nowhere, a battered Ranko shot past the titan, slicing off the nape of its neck with her ki claws, thus forcing it to drop its intended victim. Then the six other titans in the area began to converge on her.

"Well, here we go again!"

Ranko zipped on the ground slicing off the tendons of the longwalkers, forcing them to go crashing down in such a way so that they got entangled into themselves. After that, she shot upwards and came crashing down on the injured giants like a dive bomber, slicing off the napes of their necks before any of them knew what was happening. Then Ranko made her way to the injured scout.

"Are you all right?" Ranko said with a gasp as she touched down beside the lone survivor.

"T-the right flank," the scout stammered.

"Don't die on me," Ranko said as she placed a senzu bean in his mouth, made him chew it, and washed it down with some water.

"What the…" the scout exclaimed as he came to his senses and regarded his rescuer whose tattered uniform left little to the imagination as her bosom expanded and deflated with her every breath. He was further surprised when he saw the smoldering carcasses of the titans all around them.

"I'm going to try to help to re-stabilize the right flank. There are still a few horses around here so take one as I find anymore stragglers," Ranko said as she took to the skies to the amazement of the scout.

"_How is she doing all of that?"_

XXX

Further inside of the right flank panic ensued as titans smashed their way through.

"Look out!" a horsed scout screamed as a twelve foot titan charged into him, knocking him off his horse, allowing a much taller titan to reach down and take hold of him.

"Let me go! I don't want to die! Aaarrgghh!" the scout screamed as the titan bit him in half from his head to his feet ending his life. Then a scout who was in the driver's seat in a nearby horse drawn carriage left his post, ran towards the riders less horse, got on it, and took off prompting a few of the titans to chase after him.

"Nooo! Come back!" the scout who had sat next to the fleeing driver called out to his retreating comrade. He was short with short cropped brown hair and a square shouldered build.

"Reform the line!" the captain of the squad ordered from his horse, trying to reestablish control of the position as many of the scouts panicked, running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Some scouts redirected their horses away from the oncoming titans in terror only to run straight into another set of titans coming at them from the opposite direction.

"We're surrounded!" a scout yelled as titans grabbed his comrades right off their horses and devoured them. However, a couple of the riders managed to steer off to the right and avoid getting grabbed at least for the time being.

"They're everywhere! What can we do?!" the brown haired scout in the carriage cried out to the other scout in the carriage with him who was checking her 3DM gear and making sure her blades were sharp and good to go.

"What are you doing?!" the frightened scout asked amidst the chaos.

"I'm going to stop these titans and help reform the line!" Hannah Diamant said with a pause, taking a deep breath. Then she leaped off the carriage, using her 3DM gear to shoot herself upwards, attaching a line into one of the oncoming titans' shoulders. Then she swung around it and sliced off the nape of its neck before the titan knew what was happening.

"Lookout!" the scout remaining in the carriage called out as the freckle faced girl evaded an attempt to take hold of her by a titan who had ran towards her and the carriage.

"_Gotta keep moving until help arrives!"_ Hannah thought to herself as she avoided another grasping hand of a particularly large titan who accidently struck the previous titan knocking it into a few smaller titans bowling them over. Then the lithe girl leaped onto the arm of another titan, running up its shoulders and attaching a short line to the nape of its neck. After waiting a couple of seconds for another titan to strike, Hannah shot out of the way, letting the titan strike the nape of the neck of the other titan ending its existence.

"_Yes! It's a good thing I learned how to reduce my gravity and move with more speed and agility. I might just survive this!" _

Hannah kept up the pace going from one titan to another, tricking them into striking each other. It had even gotten to the point that two of the larger titans were fighting each other. As it was, several titans of various sizes were tangled together on the ground.

"Wow!" the scout left on the carriage exclaimed as he saw Hannah's hit and run tactics. He had been so impressed with what he had been watching that he had forgotten his fear and dread even though some of the smaller titans had flown over him and were on the ground. Thus there were titans entangled in each other that were only a few yards away from him all around him. Then he noticed a huge shadow looming from above and behind him.

"Whoa!" the scout in the carriage exclaimed as a charging titan missed the fast moving Hannah all together, tripped over the other titans on the ground, and flew over him, slamming into the large titan that had made its way towards scout's carriage.

"You're doing fine, Hannah! Keep up the good work!" the scout yelled out.

"Get your 3DM gear on and help me!"Hannah called out as she continued to outmaneuver the bumbling titans.

Hannah kept maneuvering until one of the taller titans finally took hold of her, moving the terrified girl towards his mouth. As Hannah saw the teeth filled maw getting closer and closer, she used her ki enhanced blades to slice off the middle teeth of the titan causing it to below in pain. While her titanic captor was distracted, she sliced off the hand that held her and leaped straight for another, smaller titan with an enlarged head that was leaping towards her with gnashing teeth.

"_Uh, oh! What will I do now? I'm surrounded,"_ the girl thought as even more titans converged on her. Hannah took a deep breath. Then she kept her weapons aimed against the giant faces and pushed down her fears, jumping on the necks of the monsters. She couldn't run or hide as she fought hard for her life. The numbers increased, but despite the bad odds she did it.

"Tenshin amaguriken revised!" Hannah screamed, making her blades move faster than the eyes could follow, slicing up the large headed titan into pieces before it could attack her, but her luck ran out as the larger titan she had escaped stunned her with a back handed attack, knocking her into the mouth of another titan who chewed her up, crunching her body into ribbon.

"Aaaaagh!" _"Oh, Franz, my love, live on for the both of us,"_ Hannah thought as time stood still, allowing her to relive the happy moments they had spent together. Then life left her, making her body go limp.

After chewing on her for a few seconds the titan spat Hannah's body out, sending her bloodied carcass crashing to the ground with a thud.

"Nooo!" the scout in the carriage screamed as he saw the leftover titans turn towards him. As they moved in on him, the scout found to his terror that he was surrounded. So he got off the carriage and crawled under it, shaking like a leaf in fright as to what was going to happen to him.

At that point, a large man on a king sized, crossbred draft horse came charging towards them.

XXX

"Onward!" Armin ordered his galloping horse, closing in on the oncoming titan who seemed to raise her eyebrows at him.

"_Almost there. Now!"_ Armin abruptly halted his horse, using the momentum to shoot off his mount while minimizing his gravity. At the same time he used his 3DM gear to fly up and away in the direction of the giantess at an uncanny speed. Then the titan's eyes went wide in surprise as Armin vanished into thin air.

"_Where did that guy go?" _Then the titan felt an acute pain in her shoulder and looked up to see Armin a couple dozen yards above her, closing in on the nape of her neck and closing in fast!

"_Oh, no you don't!"_ The titan quickly grabbed the line Armin had shot into her, swinging him and it around like a toy. Then she threw him several miles away.

"_There's no way that pest could have survived the G-forces I put him through. Now where's that other one?"_

Upon spotting him, the titan ran off into the direction of Mikey, catching up to the fleeing scout in a matter of minutes.

As Mikey looked up, he noticed the female titan was right above him. _"Golly!"_

Then she kicked the distracted scout off of his horse while the other horse simply took off running. At this point, Mikey rolled on the ground, breaking his fall.

After the horse had gotten away, the titan clomped down beside Mikey, her large body blocking the sun from him. Then she reached for his hood and looked at him with a sensual smile, prompting Mikey to look up at her as well. _"She's gorgeous!"_

After looking over her shoulders, the titan let him go, got up, and ran off.

"_She's gorgeous, but why didn't she kill me? She grabbed my hood and… My face…? She wanted to take a look at my face?"_ Mikey thought to himself as he sat there on the ground watching the titan walk off.

A few moments later, another scout showed up with a spare horse. "Reiner?!"

"Yeah, that's me. Who are you?"

"I'm Mikey Robbins!" the boy answered as he got to his feet.

"You can stand. That's good. You'd have no chance to survive beyond the walls without a horse! Here, take this one and hurry up!"

"How did you know we needed help?"

"I saw the signal which alerted me to the deviant class's appearance. So that's her, the one that made all this mess? She has a nice body," Reiner said as Mikey got on the spare horse.

"She's not a deviant class. She's a human clad in titan's flesh! At least that's what Armin thinks," Mikey answered.

"Armin? Where is he?"

"The titan grabbed his line and swung it around for a few seconds before tossing him away. Wait a sec! Neither of us fired the warning signal yet," Mikey stammered as he fumbled through his equipment.

"What?!"

"I need to let the others know about our emergency!" Mikey said as he took hold of his flare gun.

"Hmm?" Mikey said as he heard a shot go off.

"Wait! Jean's fired one off just now!" Reiner called out as he looked behind him over his shoulder.

"Signals from the position of the right flank?! What's going on out there?" Mikey said as he looked upwards and saw the flares going up into the sky.

"We've lost the lookouts of the right flank! All of a sudden a lot of titans showed up out of nowhere!" Jean said as he and Marco caught up with them on horseback.

"What happened? How many of them were there?" Reiner asked.

"There were quite a few among them. And they were able to run fast! They're being held back somehow as we speak, but detecting them is no longer possible! Chaos is spreading, but if push really comes to shove we're all finished!" Jean said again.

"Take it easy, Jean. We'll make it," Marco answered.

"The right flank is where the female titan came from! She might have been the one who led the titans to that area and caused the disaster!" Mikey exclaimed excitedly.

"Female titan?" Marco stated.

"Yes, Armin surmised that the female titan is much like the Colossal Titan Johnny Sako fought on Wall Rose. This titan can think and react. She was searching for someone," Mikey said.

"You've been listening to Armin? Talk about the blind leading the blind. What makes you think Armin is right?" Jean asked as he shook his head.

"Right before Reiner got to me the female titan knocked me off my horse and stopped right over me. Then she lifted up my hood to see who I was. Armin was right. This female titan is intelligent," Mikey explained as they rode forward.

"Female titan? Oh! Holy Toledo!" Jean exclaimed upon looking up and seeing her run a mile or so ahead of them.

"Is that her? She has the shape of a female's body all right."

"Can't take your eyes off that rump, can you, Marco?" Jean said with a sideward glance in his friend's direction.

"Anyway! She must be a deviant of some kind," Marco said as he kept his eyes on the moving titan.

"No, she's not a deviant. She's a human wearing a titan's body," Mikey said as their horses kept up the pace.

"Did Armin tell you all that? Come to think of it, you spent an awful lot of time learning those weird fighting styles from him. What are you his sidekick now? And where is that guy anyway?!" Jean asked, raising his eyebrows when Mikey explained what had happened.

"The titan took hold of his grappling line and swung him around countless times. Then she tossed him away!"

"I see. Apart from what Armin told you, what makes you think the female titan can think like a human, Mikey?" Marco asked without removing his eyes from the titan.

"Titans normally eat humans. But that female type has attacked and killed other scouts only because they were in her way. She had no desire to eat anybody. She could have eaten me earlier too had she wanted to. That's how she operates," Mikey answered.

"Hmm. Maybe she's the one who brought along the other titans when the Colossal Titan and the Armored Titan destroyed Wall Maria. But if she's actually looking for someone, who is she looking for?" Marco asked thoughtfully.

"I don't know. I'm sure if Armin was still with us, he'd be able to figure it all out," Mikey commented.

"Let's not wish for things that might not happen and focus on the issues at hand, Mikey. Now, who would this female titan be looking for?"

"Oh! Well, Johnny Sako turned into a titan while being able to think for himself. Not only did Johnny not have a desire to eat anyone, he couldn't since in his mechanized titan form he couldn't open his mouth. The presence of Johnny's titan surprised everyone. It's quite possible Johnny surprised these titans as well," Mikey stated.

"Good answer, Mikey. See? You can think competently without Armin leading you," Marco said.

"He better learn how to think without Armin holding his hand. Talk about…"

"Let's not insult Mikey's mentor, Jean. Now, the next question is, where is Johnny in the formation?"

"Isn't Johnny in Levi's squad which is supposed to be in the right flank where the female titan just came from?" Reiner asked.

"The right flank? On the diagram of the formation I got, Johnny was to be stationed near the back of the flank," Jean said.

"Well, according to the copy of the diagram Armin and I were given Johnny's supposed to be on the front lines of the right flank, but surely someone as important as Johnny wouldn't be placed in such a dangerous area, would he?" Mikey responded.

"Then where might Johnny really be?" Reiner asked.

"It would make the most sense that he'd be in the safest spot of this formation which is around the back of its center, I think."

"Mikey, we don't have time to mull over things like that right now! If the leading party orders a retreat once they see the signal, the formation might be able to avoid the titans on our right flank. However, if the female titan is really as dangerous as the colossal and the armored ones, we have no way to communicate information this complex with simple smoke signals."

'You're right, Marco, and if she manages to crush the leading party before the right flank's distress signal makes it to where they can see it, the formation will break down and chaos will ensue," Jean said.

"What are you getting at?" Reiner broke in.

"To put it simply, at this distance we still might be able to draw her attention to us. Thus we can buy everybody else some time till the signal to retreat is given," Jean said as the four horsemen kept up with the jogging titan.

"We can try, but the way she sees things, we're nothing more than insects she can squash into the ground," Mikey said.

"Seriously? Now that's terrifying, but despite all that we got work to do," Jean said with his face getting serious.

"Hey, you! Are you really Jean? The Jean I know is the kind of guy who thinks only about himself," Reiner said.

"That was rude, dude, but seriously. I just don't wanna meet a disappointing end with someone burning my bones without even knowing who they belonged to. I know what I must do right now! That's the job we chose! So are you with me?!"

"We're with you, Jean. But I suggest we put on our hoods over our heads. So that she won't see our faces! As long as she's not sure who we are she'll be careful not to kill us!" Marco said as he put the hood over his face and the others did the same.

"I see. She'll have little choice since one of us might be Johnny who she doesn't want to kill. Good thing for our peace of mind, eh? Let's hope that her eyesight is awfully bad," Reiner said.

"Mikey, you know I think the way you've been clinging to Armin and Ranko these last few months was gross. I hope you can get over them and get this job done," Jean said.

Mikey turned towards Jean and glared a little at him. Then Marco spoke up.

"That was uncalled for, Jean. And the word gross was too harsh."

"To tell the truth, Jean, I really can't blame Mikey for clinging to Ranko like that. I wouldn't mind clinging to her body myself."

Jean regarded Reiner until recognition appeared on his face. "What I meant was that Mikey has practically had his mouth on Ranko's breasts like a suckling babe."

"I wouldn't mind doing that either," Reiner said with a wry smile.

This time Jean turned towards Reiner with a wide eyed start. Then he chuckled.

"Anyway. We're all agreed that we need to slow down the female titan at all costs. Let's go, guys!" Marco called out.

"_Her jog is a lot slower than it was when she first appeared. Tired perhaps? If she picks up that insane pace once again, it will be too late. We have to act now. If we're going to do anything at all,"_ Marco thought as he prompted his horse forward.

"Draw away her attention even if for a little while… Do your best so the formation has time to withdraw. Slow her down for as long as you can. Cutting the tendons in her legs would be more than enough. Just don't get too reckless," Marco said.

As the four horsemen caught up to and encircled the titaness, Marco leaped off his horse via his 3DM gear, attaching a line to the left leg while Jean shot up higher attaching a line to its shoulder.

"That's it! Work as a team!" Jean shouted as he closed in on the nape of her neck. At the same time Marco had sliced the heels of their target, causing the titaness to go crashing to the ground face first.

However, before Jean could strike, crystal formed at the base of her upper spine, protecting her vulnerable area.

"_She's aware about the nape of her neck being her weak point. That proves she's different from typical titans. Killing her is going to be impossible until either Armin or Ranko show up," _Mikey thought as he prompted his horse forward.

"_The precision of her movements isn't what your typical titan can ever have. Of course! I shoulda guessed that much! Cause it's the human thought and reason that control the titan's body!"_ Jean thought as the titaness took another swing at his fast moving form.

On the ground Marco ran by the legs of the titan until she pounded the ground with her fist, causing a shockwave that sent the scout several feet above the ground.

"Hold on, Marco!"_ "She knows all too well what she's doing!"_ Jean thought as he shot another line into the titan's upper back while she took another swing at him.

"Yeow!" Marco screamed as he came crashing to the ground, trying to attach a line into the titaness. As soon as Jean had gotten up and behind her, the titan put a hand on the nape of her neck.

Then without warning the giantess executed a back kick that knocked Marco several yards away. After that, she attempted to strike Jean with an over the shoulder elbow strike that missed the artful dodger as he used his 3DM gear to shoot upwards out of the line of fire.

"Marco!" Jean shouted as his friend's limp body went crashing to the ground. As if on a roll, the titaness executed a legsweep that almost caught the oncoming Mikey unawares. However, Mikey evaded her attempt to strike him when he maneuvered his agile horse up and over the leg sweeping foot.

"Whew! That was close!"

"Keep her busy, Mikey!" Jean shouted as he landed on the ground and ran over to his best friend.

"Ungh!"

"Marco, are you all right?!"

"Ungh! I hurt all over, and I can't move. There's no hope for it. I'm done for. Go save yourself!" Marco gasped, coughing blood.

"I'm not leaving you here to die. Stay with me, pal!"

At the same time, Mikey surprised both the titan and Reiner with his equestrian skills as he evaded the attempts of the titan to strike or take hold of him. Then Reiner shot off his horse and embedded a line into the titan's back.

However, without warning, the titaness swung around and knocked Mikey off his horse and punted his mount miles away. At the same time she grabbed the line Reiner had embedded into her and attempted to throw Reiner away until Reiner let the line go, landing on the ground abruptly.

Things had gotten so bad that even Mikey's equipment was knocked away from him as he went rolling on the ground, breaking his fall. Then he looked up as the titan regarded him.

"Mikey!" Jean called out after getting on his horse and galloping forward. Then he leaped off of his horse and shot a line into the titan.

"Jean!" Reiner called out as he too moved in the titan from the ground.

"_Darn! I can't escape from her now! And I won't be able to kill her either! I dodged her previous blow by pure luck but now it's over! I'm gonna die when she grabs my line I'll be done for!" _

However, at that moment, a large, black wild stallion came charging towards the titaness who turned away from Jean to look in the new rider's direction.

"_Who's that?!"_ Jean thought in midair as he evaded the distracted titaness with his 3DM gear.

XXX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Be here next to find out what happens next.


	13. Titanic Struggles

Attack on Ranma

Chapter Thirteen

"_THOUGHTS"_

"The guy who escaped them got himself lost on the right flank! Avenge him! She killed him!" the rider called out with his hands cupped on his lips so as to throw his voice from his charging horse which seemed to be moving at super speed from a long way away, prompting the titan to stop what she was doing and look in his direction.

"_Armin?! I thought he was dead! He does look like he's been through the ringer as it is. Maybe what he's gone through has finally caused him to go nuts,"_ Jean thought as the titan froze up. Then Jean attached a line to a large oak tree, getting away from the titaness.

At that moment the raggedy Armin had finally closed in, leaped off of his horse, and shot off upwards in the titan's direction with his blades out.

"_Armin's surprise intervention has just given me the reprieve I needed,"_ Jean thought with relief.

"She stepped on Johnny Sako and crushed him! I saw him flattened on the ground!" Armin yelled out again.

As Armin got closer, the titaness turned around and noticed Mikey running towards her with his blades out, but before he could get to her she opened her mouth in an attempt to take a bite out of him. However, at the same time Armin had landed on the titan's back, grabbed her by the hair, and rocked her head back, moving it upwards. Thus Mikey who was moving with so much speed that he couldn't stop had run into the midriff of the titaness's bosom, bouncing off it.

"Oof!"

"I knew it! Just like that kid couldn't keep his mouth off of Ranko's bosom during training he can't stop doing that with this female titan!" Jean called out, prompting Reiner to laugh in agreement. Then the titan leaped to her feet and shook Armin off, prompting the page haired boy to leap up and backwards with an acrobatic flip allowing him to land safely on the ground.

At that moment, Reiner leaped from his galloping horse, shooting a line into the titan's shoulder, his 3DM gear allowing him to fly upwards towards to her.

"_What's he doing, going for the nape of her neck? That just might work 'cus she's preoccupied with Armin and Mikey right now!"_ Jean thought.

However, upon turning her eyes towards the oncoming scout, the titan grabbed him in midair. Then she began to squeeze him, using her thumb to smash his head in.

"Gasp!" Mikey exclaimed.

"Hey!" Jean called out.

While the titan was still sitting down on her knees, blood spurted from the fist that held Reiner fast.

"Reiner. You can't just die like that!" Jean shouted.

"Eh?" Armin said, noticing something amiss.

To the scouts on the ground's surprise, Reiner came bursting out of the hand that held him, slicing his way out. Then he shot a line into his captor, using it to swing down to the ground and run away from the titan who just looked at her hand for a moment. As Reiner came in contact with the earth, he ran towards where Marco was lying on the ground and picked him up without slowing his pace.

"I think we bought enough time already! Now we really have to leave here fast! If she's not planning to snack on us, she won't bother going after us!" Reiner said as he ran towards the others with Marco in tow.

After looking at her smoking, healing hand for a moment, the titan took off.

"_Reiner is actually something, hmm. With Ranma and Ranko being the strongest, I almost forgot that Reiner was also head and shoulders above most of the rest while being one of the most reliable,"_ Jean thought as he saw what was going on. Then he noticed Armin put away something that he had put on his eyes just a moment ago.

"Look, she's leaving. Now's our chance!" Reiner said.

"_What? The direction she's heading for is the back of the central row; that's where Johnny is! Didn't what I said send her in the wrong direction? And how did that writing get on her hand? Did Reiner write it on her? If so, then why?"_ Armin thought as he saw the titan leave them.

"Hey, Reiner, put Marco down for a moment. He took a hard hit from that titan," Jean called out.

"Yeah, all right."

"How bad was he hit?" Armin asked.

"The titan kicked him, hurting him pretty bad. What are you doing?" Jean asked as Armin took out a small green pill seemingly out of nowhere.

"There's no time to explain. I need to…"

"You need to what?! I'm sick of all this secrecy you, Ranma, and Ranko have been engaging in! Even Johnny is in on it. You guys…"

"We can argue about conspiracy theories later! Right now, Marco needs this before he dies!" Armin shouted back.

"What is that?! You're not giving him anything until I know exactly what that thing is!"

"There's no time to explain!" Armin said as he rapidly made his way to Marco and placed the bean in his mouth.

"What are you…"

"Eat it!" Armin said to the downed scout.

"Gulp! Cough! Jean, I'm all right!" Marco said within a second of taking the green pill.

"Marco?"

"I don't know what Armin gave me, but I'm all right now. Now let's get our horses together and get out of here," Marco said as he abruptly got to his feet.

Then the page haired boy felt a firm hand on his shoulder. "What did you give him, Armin?"

Armin turned around to see Reiner shrewdly regarding him. "Consider it a military secret. Now let's go. Are you OK, Mikey?"

"I'm a little banged up and bruised, but I'll be all right. That was almost as brutal as getting a log slammed into me."

"That was a kinder, gentler version of the bakusai tenketsu. Keep working hard and we'll see about putting you through to the next level. Now let's move out."

Some of our horses got either injured or ran off. There are five of us and only two horses," Marco said.

"Two of us can ride a horse each but one of us has to go on foot," Reiner said.

At this point, Armin stepped forward. "I'll go on foot, but the horse I brought with me is a wild stallion. So you'll need to be careful as you ride him."

"Can you fly like Ranko ca…" Mikey said until Armin quickly shot him a narrow eyed glare that shut the younger boy up.

"What's he talking about?" Reiner asked.

"Nothing. I'll be the one to go without a horse," Armin said.

"Oh, no, you don't. You simply want to get out of answering my questions. I won't let you do it! Mikey can leg it home."

"Mikey took a hard fall, Jean, so he's the last one who should be left here on foot. Since I'm the most capable one here I'll be the one to stay behind. Don't worry about me. There are several riders-less horses running around. I'm sure to find another mount."

"That's not the point! I got questions that are gonna get answered!" Jean said as Marco took out a first aid kit and placed a bandage over Mikey's forehead.

"How's your 3DM gear, Mikey?" Marco asked as he admired his handiwork.

"It's all right. The clasp got unfastened in the right way, so it didn't break."

"I'm gonna call my horse back. Then we're gonna have this out," Jean said before putting his fingers into his mouth and whistling for his horse.

"_Why did Reiner's horse come back while mine's nowhere to be seen? We really shouldn't stay here any longer. But the last thing I want is for Armin to get out of answering my questions," _Jean thought as he continued to whistle for his horse.

"It might be a good idea for us to fire a smoke bomb first. If the formation keeps moving in a straight line, the third squad of the fourth line should be passing somewhere near us," Marco said upon shooting off a flare.

"That's the emergency signal. I doubt we can communicate the exact nature of our predicament with that though," Jean said.

"We'll wait only three more minutes. We need to decide before then," Reiner stated as he shot Armin a hard look.

"As I said from before, I'll stay," Armin stated.

"Wait, Armin! There's someone coming, with a couple of extra horses too," Jean said as he put his hands to his eyes in order to get a better view.

"Isn't that Krysta?!"

"Guys! Hurry up and get onto the horses! The right flank is in serious trouble!"

"Yeah, we know that! You're an angel!" Reiner said.

"Huh? Isn't this one mine?!" Jean asked as he got on his horse.

"The poor thing was so scared that she ran all the way to where I was. Did you have a battle with some titan? Mikey, are you injured?" Krysta asked as she turned back and forth between him and Jean.

"Oh, I'm fine," Mikey said as he gazed upon Krysta happily.

"Didn't you get enough of that female titan's breasts? How much do you need? Now you're staring at Krysta?" Jean said with a chuckle making Reiner and Marco laugh while Krysta regarded them with a tilt of her head and a blink of her eyes.

"I'm glad you decided to make a detour and check on things when you saw our smoke signal," Marco said.

"Well, I was nearby and got Jean's horse as another unexpected spare. Now we need to quickly get back to the formation," Krysta said.

"_She's a goddess. I wanna marry her,"_ four of the young men thought to themselves as they regarded her.

"We're still short of a horse, but since…"

"There's no need for any of us to stay. One of the horses will have to take two of us," Jean interjected.

"As I was going to say, since I brought a powerful stallion, Mikey can ride with me since he's the lightest one here," Armin said, sharpening his eyes at Jean.

"That will work. We need to return to the formation fast. The withdrawal order should be given anytime now since the leading party is no longer in danger from the female titan that went in the opposite direction for some reason," Marco said as Reiner looked to the side askance which didn't go unnoticed by Armin.

"She? Just now you said something about a titan's breasts?" Krysta asked with a look of bewilderment on her face.

"We just fought a titan with a woman's, curvaceous boy of which Mikey got a face full," Jean said with his eyebrows raised lasciviously.

"Oh."

"Anyway, it's hardly been even an hour since we left the wall. I'd have never thought we'd be returning after barely venturing outside. The actual prospects turned out darker than everything I could have imagined," Marco said. Then they all looked up to see over a dozen flares being shot up into the sky.

"A green signal? But it's not the withdrawal signal. The formation is only changing the course with the mission still continuing?!" Jean asked.

"But every soldier is supposed to have the freedom to decide that continuing the operation is no longer possible for them. Could it be the signal didn't make it all the way to the leading party, after all?" Reiner said.

"Whether they know or not. In the current situation we have only one option," Armin said as he also shot off a green flare. "We have to follow the order."

XXX

Several miles away another group of horsemen notice the flares being shot off.

"Oluo, fire the signal," Levi ordered.

"Affirmative!"

"_It's like there're no titans around here at all, even though we're outside the wall. Is it because this is the safest spot of the formation? Here, in this spot, it feels as if everything is going along smoothly. But how are things really going? There're bound to be victims among those on the front lines by now despite what the others and I were able to teach many of them,"_ Ryoga thought as he and the group rode on.

"I've got a message!" a courier on horseback shouted out as he approached the group.

"The right flank lookouts suffered a crushing blow! Enemy detection on the right flank is partially disabled! Relay this message to the squads to your left!" Then the courier took off.

"You heard that, Petra? Go," Levi ordered.

"Yes, sir!"

"_The right flank? Isn't that where Ranma is supposed to be? I hope nothing happened to her," _Ryoga thought with concern.

Then Ryoga looked up. "A black signal?! A deviant appeared?!"

"Ryoga, fire the signal."

"Yes, sir!"

"What a mess. Some titan's already penetrated the formation that deep, huh?" Levi said to no one in particular.

"_For a titan to have already advanced that far. I wonder if the ones who fired that signal are fighting it right now? And how is Ranma doing? Is she all right? "_ Ryoga thought as he fired off the flare.

XXX

As Hannah's body lay on the ground several yards away from the scout who hid under the horse carriage shaking like a leaf, a large man on a large horse came charging into the group of titans. Then he saw the dead carcass on the ground.

"Nooo!" Franz screamed, prompting the remaining titans to converge on him.

"_Who is this guy? He's looks powerful. I might be able to survive this day,"_ the scout thought as he peaked from under the carriage.

"You murdering bastards! I'll kill you! I'll you all!" Franz screamed as he powered up his 3DM gear and shot off his horse into the largest titan and sliced off its head with his ki enhanced blades, being careful to slice off the nape of its neck in the process. Then he struck the back of the dead titan with a powerful kick, knocking it into some of the others.

One of the titans growled as he struck Franz in the back with a glancing blow that knocked scout forward end over end. While the scout went flying, he curled up into a ball and used the momentum to smash into the forehead of another titan, knocking it down and knocking it out.

"Whoa!" the scout under the carriage exclaimed as the titan hit the ground only a few feet away from him, making the carriage under which he had hid jump off the ground a little.

"_Is there someone hiding under that horse carriage?"_ Franz thought as he landed on top of the dermal side of a large hand that had tried to take hold of him, running up the arm and leaping off of it towards the nape of the owner's neck and slicing it off.

"AAARRGGHH!"

While all the remaining titans in the area were fighting the newcomer, the hiding scout silently crept from under the carriage and climbed his way to the driver's seat of the horse drawn carriage. Then he took the reins and rode off.

"_I'll just let that guy over there handle things while I go and get help,"_ the scout thought as he prompted the horses onward.

"_There was someone under that horse carriage. Where is he going?!"_ Franz thought before leaping into the sky using his strength, skill, 3DM gear, and by lowering his gravity. This allowed him to look down on the ground and take stock of the situation before he began to slowly fall towards the ground.

"_There are ten titans left. Soon they'll be none."_ "Yaaagh!" Franz screamed as he allowed his gravity to come back with a vengeance, using his 3DM gear to shoot downward like a dive bomber. Thus he nailed the tallest of the remaining titans by smashing into it on the top of its head. Upon stunning it, Franz jumped down and sliced off the nape of its neck.

"Yaarrggh!" another titan screamed as he reached out for Franz only to have its hand sliced off.

"Murderers! I'll kill you all!" the young man screamed as he leaped from head to shoulders, his blades doing their deadly work, slicing through titans one after the other until they were no more.

"Hannah!" Franz called out as he made his way towards her, picked up her dead body, and broke out in tears, raising his fist in the air.

XXX

In an abandoned town outside the walls, survey scouts engaged the female titan with one of them attached to the top of a broken windmill while the others were still on horseback.

"Come here, you monster!" the lead survey scout said from his horse as he shot off a line at the titan while she had her left hand over the nape of her neck.

"Now!" the lead scout announced, prompting the other three scouts to shoot off grappling hooks into the titan from different vantage points. One near the windmill attacked her side while the others attacked her heels as they each leaped off their horses.

"She seems like a deviant that's pretty good at using her brain, but she won't be able to defend against every contingency," a scout called out.

"We'll cut the ligaments along her spine, any spot would do. That would stop her from moving. We've got so many casualties thanks to you, you bitch!" the scout near the windmill thought as he shot forward to her back.

Then to the scout's surprise, the titan reached behind her back, grabbed the grappling line, and removed it from her back as she leaped upwards.

"What?! She jumped?!" the lead scout exclaimed. He was further surprised when she came down with one of her feet smashing the other scout into the ground. After that, she kicked another scout into a house, killing him as well. Then she regarded the scout from the windmill whose grappling line was still in her hands.

"Let go of me!"

To the shock and surprise of the lead scout who was still on the ground on his horse, the female titan sauntered over to him, spinning the line and the scout attached to it at over a dozen times per second. Then she tossed the G-force crushed scout over her shoulder, sending him several miles away.

At that point the lead scout took off on his horse. "Relaying information that someone extra-ordinary like her takes top priority right now!"

The titan had other ideas though. Thus she chased after the horseman, caught up to him, and kicked both him and his horse into the sky far away.

"Aaaaagh!" the scout screamed as he went flying.

After soaring through the air for a couple of minutes, he noticed someone coming towards him.

"What the… Who's that beautiful angel?!" the flying scout yelled as a slender young woman's form got closer.

"Don't worry, Captain. I got you."

"Who are you?" the captain said with a gasp as the flying scout took hold of him and gently slowed him down as she flew in the same direction he had been thrown.

"I'm Ranko Tendeau. I'm going to have to put you down. There are a few riders less horses on the ground. This will allow you to get away and tell headquarters what's going on!"

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to have to deal with that titan over there. She's been causing a lot of problems as of late," Ranko said as she flew down and plopped the scout onto a horse that was munching on the grass in front of it. Then she shot off towards the female titan that was running off in the opposite direction.

However, a bunch of other titans seemingly appeared out of nowhere and got in between her and the female titan, making their way towards Ranko as they grasped at her.

XXX

Sometime later, A few miles away another group of scouts on horseback charged the titaness.

"A deviant?" one of the scouts said.

"She's advanced pretty far, but were taking her down!" the lead scout of this group of horsemen said.

"Don't let her advance any further that that!" the second in command shouted to the men behind him.

XXX

At line 3 file 1 on convoy duty near the front in the center, the scouts there had a wagon along with horsemen and hadn't seen any titans as of yet.

"The right flank is wiped out you said?!"

"And no withdrawal orders given yet?"

"Why on earth?!"

At line 1 file 13 on lookout duty at the far left flank, other scouts heard the news. "We've been going west for quite a while already," a scout said.

"Weren't we supposed to be heading to the old town in the south?"

At line 1 file 5 on lookout on the upper left of the convoy:

If we keep going this way, we're bound to run into that place," another scout said.

"Yeah, you can already see it from here."

XXX

On their way to the forests of giant trees, the line 2 center in command made their way to through a clear pathway.

"Since no plants grow in the passage-way, even horse drawn carriages can get through. Looks like the titans passed through here. Relay my order to the squads behind us. Only the central file, consisting of the cart convoy is to enter the forest," Colonel Erwin ordered as his group made his way inside the forest.

"Um, Captain Fokker, the central file seems to be going into the forest. Are we going to follow them there?" Sasha asked from her horse.

"We're gonna circle around it," the captain said as his squad moved from the main group making their way into the forest.

"Look at it like a merry-go-round, Sasha," Mina Carolina said with a smile.

"How can you joke seeing what almost happened to us earlier?" Sasha said, her face getting red.

"Us? What do you mean us? It was me who almost got eaten by that crawling titan. If you hadn't…" Mina said.

"Oh, drop it already!"

In a matter of minutes, the scouts followed their orders and used their 3DM gear to make their way up the trees.

"Hey, seems like only the central file entered the forest. What will become of the formation now?" Connie said over his shoulder behind him as he stood on a tree branch on a 200 foot or more oak tree.

"There's no formation to speak of anymore. Since both the right and left flanks are ordered not to enter the forest. The only way left to us is to circle it around instead. Our ability to detect the enemy is lost now," Mikasa explained to him.

"But why didn't we just avoid the forest by changing our course earlier? Did Colonel Erwin read the map wrong or something?" Connie asked.

"I don't know. Maybe, we got cornered trying to avoid the titan threat on our right flank and ended up here or maybe not."

XXX

"Captain Levi! There is no way we can detect the enemy if we are the only file of the formation to enter the forest! And I think I saw something approaching from the right to boot! How are we supposed to avoid the titans and protect the carts under these circumstances?!" Johnny asked.

"Stop stating the obvious in that obnoxious screech! It's clear as day we can't do any of that anymore," Levi answered.

"Eh? But why?! How come things…"

"Take a good look around already. These huge ass trees are the best location you can only wish for maxing out the 3D maneuver gear's performance. Now, do me a favor and put that dumb head of yours to use. Make sure to do your best and rack your brains as hard as you can, if you don't want to die," Levi explained as they made their way on horseback past the thick foliage and trees on a dirt road.

"What the heck is with all that, huh?" Oluo said.

Johnny looked at Ryoga and the other members of Levi's squad. _"Wait. Don't tell me that no one knows anything about what's actually going on?! Could it be, Captain Levi doesn't know anything either?"_ Johnny thought as he regarded the blank faces of the squad.

At that point, loud footfalls became evident.

"What's that sound?" Petra said.

"It's right behind us!"

"Something that was coming from the right is making that sound," Uld said as he looked over his shoulder.

"Everyone, get your blades at the ready. That something will be here in a moment," Levi said as the female titan made their way to them, fighting other survey scouts that attempted to bring her down.

Then Ryoga paused for a moment.

"What's your problem now?" Levi snapped, noticing Ryoga's eyes lightening up.

"There's something coming in front of us. It's several kilometers away. It's the Crystal Titan!"

"That's impossible! Didn't you and I take the Crystal Titan out a few months earlier?!" Johnny asked.

"I did, so I can sense its ki signature. It's several miles ahead of us," Ryoga answered.

"Well, if you took this titan out earlier, you can take it out again, right?" Oluo said without biting his tongue that time.

"Yes, I can deal with him."

"Are you delusional?! If there was another titan on its way here, we'd all know about it! What exactly happened after you were blown clear of your father's laboratory?!" Levi demanded as they continued to ride their horses hard and fast.

"I went into another universe where I learned how to…"

"Shut up! That was a rhetorical question!"

XXX

Sometime later, the group of five horses consisting of Armin and the others arrived at the forest of huge trees where the formation had retreated into.

"Hey, you over there! Dismount and leave your horses on the side. Then use your 3DM gear to climb up to the top of these trees!" Captain Fokker ordered every newcomer. A while later, Fokker departed and left his second in command, Lieutenant Rick Hunter, in charge.

"This is insane. Abandoning the initial plan to establish a supply root instead of admitting defeat and retreating? We're recklessly going out of our way to drop by this place to do some sightseeing," Jean said as he stood on a tree branch of a giant oak dozens of yards above the ground.

"And to top it off, we're ordered to dismount, draw our swords and stand by here, stopping any titan that tries to enter the forest. That guy dishes out some really ridiculous orders."

"You oughtta be careful. The lieutenant might hear you, Jean," Marco said.

"All right." Then Jean turned towards his right. "Don't think I've forgotten about what you did earlier, Armin. You might as well tell me what you gave Marco."

"Jean what are you getting at?" Armin asked.

"You know what I'm talking about! If you have some magical lentils that will help all of us, you need to share that info with all of us."

"What are you guys talking about?!" Ymir called out with Krysta a few feet to her left.

"I just helped Marco out earlier," Armin answered.

"And how did that happen?" Ymir asked.

"Armin gave him some small pill of some kind. This allowed Marco to recover from serious injuries," Jean said.

"Oh."

"You have that look that says you have a clue about what's going on. Do you know something too?" Jean asked.

"Well, I…"

"5 meter class, approaching!" the lieutenant announced as a 16 foot, four inch titan made its way towards them.

"In short we just need to stop them from entering the forest, right? No need to engage them in combat, right?" Marco said as more titans came into view several miles behind the first one.

"That's right. If there's only one, I'm well capable of going down there and…"

"Belay that, Armin! There's no need to engage any titans. We can keep them out of the forest by staying right where we are!" the lieutenant ordered.

Armin quickly turned towards the lieutenant. "What if the titans decide to enter the forest? I can take this one out right now, but if their numbers grow…"

"Let me tell you something about titans, Armin. They're attracted to people, and as long as we're standing here on these trees they'll be drawn to us. They'll have no desire to enter the forest. That's why the Colonel decided to have us stand here," the lieutenant said.

"All right, sir, but what if one of these titans proves to be capable of climbing?" Armin asked.

"Then you're free to attack such a titan."

"Yes, sir."

As everybody looked upon another titan that joined the previous one, Jean turned towards Armin. "What was that about? Were you trying to avoid my questions by committing suicide?"

"No, Jean. Everything doesn't revolve around you."

"Well, then. What did you give Marco in order to keep him from dying? He had several broken bones. I saw it!"

"Listen, Jean. Just forget about it, all right?"

"I won't…"

"Quite!" the lieutenant barked.

XXX

In another part of the forest, Levi's squad was fleeing the female titan whose thumping footfalls got closer and closer.

"It's bridging the gap!" Petra said as they kept on moving.

"That's not all! The Crystal Titan…"

"I said shut up about that!" Levi barked.

"You don't believe me? Well, take a look through these," Ryoga said as he handed Levi a pair of binoculars.

"What are these, looking glasses?"

"Yes, they'll allow you to see what's further up ahead. I've already seen him with these. He's on his way," Ryoga said.

Levi looked through the binoculars, and what he saw made his eyes widen. "How did you know he was on his way here?"

"I sensed his presence. And it won't be too long before he gets here. For all we know these titans are planning to hit us from both sides."

"I'll do the thinking around here, Ryoga," Levi said as he handed back the binoculars to him.

"As I said before I can take him on. We'll have to do something or we'll be trapped."

"I can take him in my titan form," Johnny interjected.

"You're too important, Johnny. It's best if I go," Ryoga said.

"Quite, you two!" Levi ordered.

Within seconds, loud thumping noises could be heard from ahead of the scouts as well as from behind them.

"Shoot, I heard that! There's no way we can avoid both of them from this point. We're going to have to fight it out!" Gunther announced.

"They're so fast! It will be no time before they're on either side of us!" Uld said.

"Captain! Let's switch to the 3DM gear!" Petra suggested.

Levi then turned towards Ryoga. "All right, hero. I guess you get your chance. Do everything you can to keep the Crystal Titan away from us and out of the picture. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!" Ryoga answered as the Crystal Titan came into view. He was directly in their path being a couple of miles away.

Then to the surprise of the other scouts, Ryoga shot upwards off of his horse several yards forward and swung a war hammer that appeared in his hands.

"Hurry up!" Levi ordered.

"Upon Levi's command, Ryoga shot forward straight into the titan that was facing them, knocking it several yards backwards.

"How the…"

"Never mind that now. At least, Ryoga moved in from an angle that allows us to go around the both of them. Move it!"

As Levi took hold of his equipment, he noticed several survey scouts approach the pursuing titaness.

"The squad behind us is backing us up!" Petra called out.

As the two scouts maneuvered towards the female titan via their 3DM gear, the titan kept on running but put her left hand on the nape of her neck, protecting it. And as one of the scouts swung near one of the large oaks which were taller and larger than the titan herself, the titan used her shoulder to slam the hapless scout into the tree, leaving a blood stain there. Then she grabbed the other scout and slammed her into another tree, crushing her into ribbon.

"Captain, give us the order. She's really dangerous. We must do it now!" Oluo shouted out as they propelled their horses forward.

"I'm gonna turn her into mincemeat," Uld said, taking hold of his blade.

"_Idiot! You'll only be digging your own grave if you try! The squad stationed behind us was comprised of the most skilled experts in killing titans!"_ Johnny thought to himself.

"Captain, give us the order, please!" Oluo demanded.

"Everyone, plug your ears up," Levi ordered. As the others complied, Levi shot off a sound grenade.

"What was that?!" Johnny said.

"Men, what's your mission again? Was it to lose yourselves to your raging emotions? That's not what your orders were. Now is it the duty this squad was assigned to is to do our best to make sure this brute won't get a single scratch on him. Even if it costs us our lives," Levi said as he regarded the stern faces of his squad.

"_They were assigned to keep watch over me?" _Johnny thought.

"We're gonna keep advancing on horses. Is that clear?"

"Roger that, sir!" Petra confirmed.

"On horses? But how long are we gonna to keep going like this?! Not to mention that she'll catch up to us very soon!" Johnny called out.

Then two more scouts appeared at either side of the pursuing titan, attacking her.

"Another group of backup! If we help them right now, together we may stand a chance!" Johnny announced.

"Johnny, you look straight ahead!"

"Gunther!" Johnny answered.

"Stop screwing up the pace! Maintain your fastest running speed!" Uld ordered.

"But why?! Who's going to stop her if not Levi's squad?!" Johnny said as he noticed the pursuing titan smash a scout into a large tree.

"Another person has just lost his life! There was a chance we could have saved him! The other one is still fighting courageously! If we go right now, we can still make it in time!" Johnny said upon looking over his shoulder behind him.

"Johnny! Look only in front of you and keep moving!"

"Are you telling me to just close my eyes to the desperate battle happening behind us? To leave my comrades to their death and run for my life, is that it?! Well, I can't do that! These people are too valuable!" Johnny answered back.

"Yes, that's precisely what I'm telling you to do! Obey the captain's order!" Petra said.

"I don't get why I must let my comrades die! And I also don't get why you're not telling the reason behind your unwillingness to help them! Why?!"

"That's because the captain judged it's not something he should explain. That's why! You don't get it cause you're newbie with an obnoxiously loud voice! Now that I've answered your questions, shut the F up and obey!" Oluo broke in.

"_The lone scout's still fighting by himself. Wait, that's Ranma!"_ Johnny thought as he looked over his shoulders.

Along with the other scouts assailing the pursuing titaness Ranma flew towards her, easily evading every attempt to knock her out of the way.

"Too fast for ya, Big Girl!" Ranma shouted out as she deftly flew under the titan's chin on her way to the back of her neck.

"_What do you think you're doing, little woman?!"_ The annoyed giantess quickly used her elbow to strike at Ranma while keeping her hand on the nape of her neck still missing her target.

"_Another one's coming! Blast it!" _

Mousse had joined the fray, shooting off several large blades that sliced off the hand that protected the nape of the titan's neck, forcing her to use her other hand to cover her weak spot.

"_I have you now!"_ Mousse said to himself as he closed in. However, to the former Chinese boy's surprise, she leaned forward and struck him with a back kick, forcing him to roll with the blow by recoiling backwards barely getting hit.

"Ungh!" Mousse moaned as another scout took hold of him and withdrew him from the fight.

"She just took out Mousse! That tears it!" Johnny called out. Then he took a deep breath and concentrated.

"Johnny, what do you think you're doing?! You're allowed to do that only when your life is in danger! You promised us, didn't you?!" Petra said.

"Johnny, you're not in the wrong about this. If you want to do it, do it," Levi said.

"Captain?!" Petra said.

"He's a real monster. That much I know. And it's not just because of his titan power. No matter how much force he's held down with, no matter how strong the cage he's placed in, no one will be able to make his spirit submit to their will."

Levi continued. "The difference in judgement between you and us originates from different rules derived from past experiences. You don't have to rely on a thing like that. Make your choice. Will you trust yourself, or will you trust me, them, and the scouting legion as a whole?"

Johnny turned back, watching the female titan swat the survey scouts that attacked her like flies. However, Ranma was still in the fight. Then another scout came shooting off from behind as Ranma flew upwards staying on the titan's left.

"That's Ranko!"

At that point, Ranma and Ranko were on either side of the pursuing giantess, flying in sync with each other.

"Those girls are good. I had no idea anyone could do that with their 3DM gear," Oluo said as he looked over his shoulder.

"Johnny, trust us," Petra said, prompting the lost boy to look at her.

"All right."

XXX

AUTHOR NOTES: See what happens in the next chapter!


	14. Ensnaring a Titaness

Attack on Ranma

Chapter Fourteen

"_THOUGHTS"_

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I've rewritten this fanfic. So that you don't have to reread the whole fanfic all over again, I'm giving you a summary of the changes I've made.

Chapter One: Ryoga was the pet rabbit and Ranmachan was the girl who owned Ryoga until the end of the chapter where he gets to become a man again.

Chapter Two: Ryoga and Ranma made their way to the deserts and ice lands of the world on their way to the Walled Country. Ryoga was Eren Yeager altered by travelling through different universes. He was also Ryoga Hibiki in the canon Ranma universe.

Chapter Three: The girl who found Ryoga and Ranma together was Ranko, Ranma's younger sister. She also is the one who welds a ki blade. She had been raised by Soun and his wife in Japan until the titans showed up. Then she fled by boat making it to the Ukraine.

Chapter Four: While Ranma was still hooked up with Ryoga, Ranko fell in love with Armin. And since Ryoga/Eren had vanished, Grisha Yeager, Ryoga/Eren's father injected his nephew, Johnny Sako with something that will become obvious later. Johnny also joined the military at the same time Mikasa and Armin did, having been friends with them ever since the first wall had been kicked in.

Chapter Five: Ranma and Ranko were the ones who go over the walls and retrieve merchandise and food that's in low supply.

Chapter Six: The top ten graduates of boot camp went like this from first to last. Ranma Sautorme, Ranko Tendeau, Mikasa Wunderbar, Armin Bateman, Johnny Sako, Reiner Braun, Bertholdt Fubar, Annie Lockhardt, Connie Springer, and Mina Carolina. Johnny Sako was the one who engaged the Colossal Titan when he kicked the hole into Wall Rose.

Chapter Seven: Ranko was the one who dealt with the merchant whose carriage was blocking the exit out of the Trost District while Ranma was the one who worked in the supply depot with Sergeant Metalisch.

Chapter Eight: Ryoga was the one who fought Sergeant Metalisch in that flashback. He was also the one who carried the giant boulder into the hole the Colossal Titan made. Unlike in the canon manga, Thomas was the one who caught Reiner and Bertholt talking about being titans and making holes in the walls. Marco showed up a little later and was almost killed too but he survived while not seeing who had killed Thomas seconds earlier.

Chapter Nine: This time it was Johnny Sako who turned out to be a titan when Marcel/the Crystal Titan makes a hole in the Nedlay District. The titan Johnny Sako turns into is Metallic(think Johnny Sakko and his Flying Robot) Johnny was also the one who stood trial and got beat up by Captain Levi.

Chapter Ten: Johnny is the one who talked with Zoe Hange after everybody else went to bed. He also went with her to meet the titans that had been captured and turned into his titan form in order to fight a titan who got too close. Johnny is also the one whom Colonel Erwin questioned about the killed titans.

Ranma is the one who found Ymir in her severely damaged Jusenkyo form and helped her recover.

Chapter Eleven: In this chapter, Ranko is the one who convinced many of the cadets to join the Survey Corps.

Chapter Twelve: Now, Ranma was on the far left while Ranko was on the far right when the Survey Corps left the safety of the walls and ventured out into the wilderness. And Johnny is the one Levi's squad was protecting.

Chapter Thirteen: Only change here is that it was Ranma and Ranko who chased after the female titan along with Mousse and some others.

XXX

Johnny paused for a moment, taking a deep breath.

"Johnny, you're taking too long! Make up your mind already!" Levi demanded.

"All right, I'll keep going with you!"

"Good choice, Johnny," Joachim Halte said, giving him a sideward nod.

"I'm surprised you decided to say anything since you've been quite most of this time, Joachim," Oluo said.

"There really wasn't much of a need for me to talk since most of you already had things in hand."

XXX

At that moment Ranma and Ranko who were on either side of the pursuing titan closed in on an ear each. Then they each clapped their hands together and shoved the created energy towards the ear holes of the titan, causing her to scream loudly and go crashing to the ground.

"They got her!" Johnny called out.

"That's it!" Ranko said as she made her way towards the nape of the fallen titan's neck with Ranma close behind her.

"It looks as if she's out. But we need to act quickly," Ranma said as a few other scouts came from behind them.

"Rraaaarrggh!"

"Look out!" Ranko screamed as she and Ranma rolled with the blow of the angry titan who back handed the girls in an arc with her right hand, knocking them end over end several miles to her left. Then she got up, looked ahead, and resumed her pursuit of Johnny and his squad.

"Oh, no, Ranma!" Johnny screamed as he seemingly reached out for her.

"Straighten up and ride right!" Oluo ordered him.

"Forgive me, Ranma," Johnny said with a tear in his eye.

"The target has accelerated!" Gunther announced.

"Full speed ahead! Keep running as fast as you can!" Levi demanded.

"Captain! It's catching up to us!" Petra called out.

"Keep going!" Levi ordered.

The fast running titaness had begun to bridge the gap between herself and her quarry. Then she reached out for Johnny, just missing the top of his head by a dozen yards. However, as the squad passed by a group of trees, they noticed scouts all over the place, surrounding the area.

"Fire!" Colonel Erwin yelled. At that point, hundreds of harpoons came from all over the place and struck the titan who quickly put her hands on the nape of her neck.

"Eh?" Johnny gasped as he looked over his shoulder.

"Tether the horses up ahead. Then switch to the 3DM gear. This time I'll be taking action separately from the rest of you. I'm leaving Gunther in charge of the squad. Keep a safe distance away from that titan and hide Johnny. And take care of my horse. Is that clear?" Levi said as he leaped off his horse via his 3DM gear, taking off for where the titan was trapped.

"Yes, sir!"

"_Hmm? Could it be that they wanted to capture that titan alive?"_ Johnny thought as Levi departed.

"So how was that, Johnny?! Now you see?! We've captured that titan!" Gunther said.

"This is the power of the scouting legion! Don't ever underestimate it, you dumbass! You got that now?!" Oluo stated.

"Yes!" Johnny answered. _"I hope Ranma made it out all right."_

XXX

As Ranko and Ranma went flying through the forest upon being struck by the female titan, they eventually slowed down where they slammed into a leaf plumage of a large tree, cushioning their crash. "Oof!"

"You all right, Ranma?"

"Huff! Yes, I'm OK. I hope Colonel Erwin's plans happened the way he wanted them to," Ranma said as her upraised eyes noticed the huge tear running through the middle of Ranko's shirt, the buttons having come off, leaving the buxom girl's midriff exposed.

"What?"

"Your shirt's all ripped. You're busting out all over."

Ranko looked down and noticed her wardrobe malfunction. "Oh, great! That's two uniforms ruined in one day!"

"Well, we better get back. I think they've managed to capture the female titan," Ranma said.

"Yeah, let's go back."

XXX

Back to where the female titan was tied down with hundreds of harpoons embedded all over her body, she stood there with her hands on the nape of her neck and her knees bent, being so immobilized that even her eyes couldn't even be closed.

"All right! We got her!" a scout said from the ground.

Then Levi made his way to Colonel Erwin who stood on a thick branch of an oak tree. "Seems like she stopped moving."

"Yes, but we can't let our guard down yet. Great job leading her here," the colonel answered.

"It's all thanks to the backup squad who gave up their lives fighting her to buy us enough time. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have made it here."

"I see," Erwin said.

"Now we can find out who that person is and get to the bottom of what's been going on," Levi said as they both were standing several yards behind the titan's head.

XXX

While the scouts inside the forest fought the female titan, the scouts standing high on the tree limbs had moved all over the outside of the forest, surrounding it.

Where Krysta and some of the others were still high up in the trees where the titans on the ground were gathering, one particular titan tried to climb up to where Krysta Lenz was with a look of anticipation in its eyes until he slipped and went crashing to the ground.

"They're climbing up the trees!" Krysta said, nervously sweating.

"Yes, I can see that. If they climb up to this height, we'll move out of the way. But I think we need to hold out only a little longer. The withdrawal order should be given anytime now," Lieutenant Nanaba, the one in charge of the area Krysta and some others had occupied at the time, said.

Lieutenant Nanaba had short, sandy blond hair with a slender, wiry yet muscular physique.

"Does it have to do with the explosions inside the forest we've been hearing?" Krysta asked.

"Mikasa, what is that sound in your opinion? It sounds like cannons are firing inside the forest!" Sasha called out from a branch a couple yards to her right.

"I really don't know."

In another part of the edge of the forest:

"_What's going on in there? It didn't look like there were cannons among the cargo,"_ Reiner thought from the high vantage point of the tree branch on which he stood.

"It's so noisy behind us. Say, Bertholt, do you know where Krysta went off to?" Ymir asked.

"No idea, sorry."

In another area:

"I have no idea what's going on anymore. What are we doing and why? I just wanna go back home soon," Connie whined.

"There's a titan climbing one of these trees! Hold on!" Armin said as he leaped down towards the surprised titan who reached out for the agile, fast moving scout, causing him to lose his hold and slip downward. Armin wasn't finished with it yet though. Before the titan reached the ground, Armin swooped down on the nape of its neck and sliced it off. With a loud scream, the 25 foot titan went crashing to the ground in a smoldering heap right on top of some the other titans down below.

"Whoa!" Marco gasped along with some of the others who saw the short term battle. Even the Lieutenant was impressed.

"What'd you do that for?! You could have just maneuvered away from the titan to another tree!" Jean said after having done the same.

"I told you they could possibly overwhelm us. We need to make sure none of them can lead the others up here!" Armin said.

"Oh, yeah? You don't need to be so hot and bothered about it!" Jean snapped back.

Then Marco interjected. "Say, Armin. There's something going on inside this forest right now, and I think I now have a guess as to what. We've lured that female type all the way here to capture it, am I right? I just can't think of any other reason as to why only a select few knew about the plan."

"So that's what all of this is about?" Jean broke in.

"Among the titans there are those who would try to destroy the walls, am I right, Armin?" Marco asked

"Yes, I think there are such people. The colonel's probably sure of it. The Colossal Titan and the Crystal Titan's existence show that titans can be controlled artificially. Thus we have to assume that the titans who tried to bring down the wall are humans and that titans somehow reside inside the walls. Our foremost priority should be identifying such humans so as to keep them from punching anymore holes in the walls."

"What?! That's crazy!" Jean interjected.

Despite the interruption, Armin continued. "When we manage to successfully capture them, we'll be able to attain the information the survey corps desperately seeks and learn the truth about this world."

"These sounds indicate she fell into a trap after all with Johnny Sako being the bait. But still, why was Colonel Erwin so sure titans would chase Johnny once he left the safety of the walls?" Jean asked.

"I think it's because the titans didn't succeed in destroying the wall in their recent attack," Armin said.

"Huh?" Jean said.

"For some reason, they stopped their attack halfway. Their mission could be considered accomplished only when they would've destroyed the gates in Wall Rose and yet there must have been a reason for them to stop without completing it, Johnny's appearance against the Crystal Titan notwithstanding. Then there's the fact that when Ryoga plugged the breach in the wall they took such pains to destroy, they did nothing, just letting us do it. So maybe that ceased to be their goal."

"So in other words, among the ones who knew about Ryoga's use of geometry and Johnny's titan transformation at the time, there were spies?" Jean asked no one in particular.

"I would suspect so," Armin answered.

"Well, I don't like it. Even if there's no way of knowing who the spy is, I still think we should've been let in on the real plan," Jean said.

"It's probably for the best that most of us didn't know all the details. For all we know the spy could be one of us," Mikey answered.

"One of us?! That's crazy, Mikey. You've been hanging around Armin for way too long," Jean said with a little bit of contempt.

XXX

"If they knew they'd be dealing with an intelligent titan, some soldiers could've survived. And to think that even you guys who've been with the legion for a long time were left out of the loop!" Johnny said as he and the other members of Levi's squad were positioned on tree branches over a hundred feet above the ground.

"Oh, just shut up," Oluo said.

"You want to say that the Colonel and Captain don't trust us, is that it?!" Petra yelled from behind him.

"No, but that's what it looks like!" Johnny said.

"Grr!" Petra gasped with her eyes widened.

"Petra knock out a tooth or two for me, will ya?! And replace his front teeth with his back ones!" Oluo said from a few yards away.

"You can't set a trap like that effectively unless a certain number of people are told in advance about it. So the soldiers who knew about the plan were probably only the survivors from five years ago. That's what I want to think anyway," Uld explained from another tree branch.

"Ah, I see. Indeed. I'm sure that's how things really are. Get it, Johnny?" Oluo said.

"Yeah! If that was the deal, there's nothing we can do about it. They assume that the spy infiltrated our lands five years ago, at the same time when the wall was breached. That was the condition used to screen suspects," Petra said.

"Five years ago… Could that spy really…" Johnny stammered.

"Could it be the same person who killed Sonny and Bean?" Uld asked.

"Ah, that time Colonel actually asked me the same question," Petra said.

"He asked me, too. So that's what that question was about," Johnny said.

"Perhaps, if one had answered that question, they would have been let in on the real plan of this sortie. I seriously doubt there was someone who could though," Uld said.

"Well, I knew the answer. But you know. I dared not give it there. You know why?" Oluo asked.

"Why?" Petra asked.

"Huh? Still don't get it? Ah, well, guess it's not surprising you guys don't get it. Why, do you think, you don't get it? It's cause you guys aren't even close to my level," Oluo said.

"Hey, are you trying to copy Captain again? Captain Rivaille wouldn't say such a thing," Petra answered.

"_If the plan succeeds, many perspectives will open. But still, even if it's for that kind of success, way too many people have lost their lives,"_ Johnny thought as the conversation went back and forth.

XXX

Back to the captured titan:

"How do you like it? Now, even if you're still itching, you won't be able to scratch yourself. You can't move a muscle and won't likely be able to ever again. This is a method to harden your joints solid. The more your wounds are closing, the more immobile your joints are becoming," Major Hange said upon shooting more harpoons into the titan's posterior.

"And yet this is still not enough to make the important person inside show us their face, huh? What on earth are Rivaille and Mike doing?"

At that point, the two scouts came crashing down on the protecting hands of the titan in order to get to the person inside to no avail as a hard crystal appeared over her hands.

"_Looks like she has the ability to cover parts of her body with hard skin, this characteristic is strongly reminiscent of the armored titan I've heard of. The Crystal Titan has a similar ability. But unlike either of them, she doesn't seem to be able to maintain solidity of her skin for long if we keep cutting her skin with the 3DM gear swords, will it give way eventually? But we don't have time to test that theory out. It might be a good idea to bring Ryoga over here to smash his way through the nape of their necks if my plans don't work. In addition to that, has Ranma and Ranko made it back yet?"_ Colonel Smith thought.

"Hartmut!"

"Yes, sir?"

"Get some explosives ready to blow off the target's arms," Erwin ordered as he put his hand on the man's shoulder.

"Yes, sir, but there's a possibility the one inside her might get blown up as well. If we use that powerful thing we have in reserve…"

"Let's try to plant some bombs to sever her hands at the elbows then. Upon my signal plant all the bombs simultaneously and detonate them from a short distance away," Erwin ordered.

"Roger that!"

Then Levi leaped up and landed on top of the captive titan's head. "You have killed a lot of my subordinates in various ways, haven't you? Was it fun? I personally am having fun right now. And you're just like me, aren't ya? You, of all people would understand me, that's what I think, you know? Oh, yeah there's something I wanted to ask. If you're hands and feet are cut off, will you still be alright? They'll just grow back, right? I mean your real hands and feet. Cause you dying on us just won't do."

At that point, the titan opened her mouth. "KYAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!"

The scream was so loud as to force everyone near her to cover their ears.

"Is this what they call the death throes? How troublesome," Moblit said, keeping his ears covered.

"You bitch, you really startled me there," Levi said. Then Mike Zacharius began to sniff.

"_Emotional outburst? Does this mean she's going to stop resisting now? Or is she up to something?"_ the colonel speculated.

"Erwin! The stench!" Mike announced.

"It's direction?"

"From every direction and it's getting stronger. They're closing in on us from all sides!" Mike stated.

XXX

"Eh?" Armin exclaimed.

"What the?! They are all rushing into the forest!" Jean announced as all the titans in the area took off running.

"Why are they ignoring us all of a sudden?! Is every last one of them a deviant? What the heck is this?!" Connie announced.

"Who cares?! Just don't let 'em through! Engage them all!" another scout commented.

In another part of the edge of the forest:

"What's happening all of a sudden?!" Mikasa asked no one in particular.

"Wait! Please hear me out, Mikasa! I have heard this kind of scream before! When I was in a forest back in the day," Sasha recalled.

"In your homeland?" Mikasa asked.

"Yes. It was the same as the one I heard back then. It's a scream a cornered animal lets out the moment it abandons all hope. I was taught to be on guard till the very last second of the hunt."

"So you're saying I should be careful?"

"You should be 100 times more careful than before! You'll end up dead if you underestimate the forest!" Sasha exclaimed.

"Well, I was brought up in a mountainous region as well, you know…" Mikasa replied.

"A person who only grew vegetables wouldn't know!" Sasha said.

"Really?" _"Well, actually Sasha's guess is pretty accurate. And right when I, too, had a pretty bad feeling about it. Armin's supposed to be around the back of the central rows. And Johnny is likely to be, uh… Where was it, again?"_

XXX

"Hurry up with those bombs!" the colonel ordered.

"Erwin! The ones coming from the east are almost here!" Mike announced.

"Carts convoy squad, intercept the enemy!" Erwin ordered as titans of various heights and sizes made their way to them in a rush. However, as the scouts moved in to attack, the titans ran right past them.

"They ignored and went past us?! Are they deviants?! Three of them just broke through!"

The titans ran straight for the captive female titan was. "Hey, you bitch, you did something after all, didn't you?"

"Captain Rivaille!"

Levi shot off towards the nearest two titans, spinning towards each of them at super human speed, slicing off the napes of their necks. Then a smaller titan ran towards the shin of the captive titan. Then its sharp teeth began to bite into her flesh.

"_They're devouring the female type?! I can't believe this! There are titans coming from every side!"_ "Men, engage them! Protect the female titan!" Erwin ordered.

Dozens of scouts attacked the oncoming titans who outnumbered them 20 to one as they ignored them and tore the female titan apart. As Erwin saw this, he realized the situation was hopeless.

"Men! Withdraw temporarily!" Erwin ordered.

"Hey, Erwin," Levi called out as he landed near him.

"She did quite a number on us."

"That's some ugly mug you're showing. You mean…"

"I mean the enemy was prepared to abandon literally everything. I would never have thought she would have titans devour her all for the sake of wiping out of existence the information we sought to obtain," Erwin said as he looked downward at the sight.

"Men, retreat! While the titans are busy devouring the female type's body, get on your horses!" Colonel Erwin Smith ordered.

"We're leaving all the carts here! Head west and once you're out of the forest, redeploy the formation! We're returning to the Karanese District!"

"What a mess, and right after my taunting words too. Havoc all around and no benefit for us whatsoever. I wonder what they'll do to Johnny and us when we nonchalantly come back after a failure like this," Levi said a few feet to Erwin's left.

"We'll think about it after we've returned. At the moment we must concentrate on returning safely without suffering any more casualties."

"_I can hardly see anything because of all the vapor coming off her body. There might be difficulty in communicating via smoke signals,"_ Erwin thought.

"I'll go call my squad. Hopefully they haven't gotten very far from here yet…"

"Wait, Levi. Refill your gas tank and get new swords," Erwin said.

"We're hard pressed for time as it is. I think I can still hold out with what I have left. Why waste any time resupplying?"

"Do it. That's an order!" Erwin demanded.

After looking at each other for a moment, Levi complied. "Fine, understood. I'll trust your judgement on this one."

As the female titan was devoured, the white smoke coming from her carcass was so great that it went through the thick foliage of the trees along with the smoke flares going up through them as well.

"The retreat signal. Everyone, retreat! Mount your horses and let's go back," Gunther ordered.

"Yes, sir!"

In the other areas of the edges of the forest, the smoke flares were seen.

"Huh? It's over?" Jean said.

"Finally! We're going back!" Connie exclaimed.

"Looks like it's over," Uld said.

"We're going back to where we left our horses! Get ready to retreat!" Gunther ordered.

"You heard him. Let's go see for ourselves what kind of face the person that was riding that titan is making," Oluo said.

"Let's go!"

"Did they really manage to extract that person?" Johnny asked.

"Yes, they did and it's thanks to you, Johnny," Petra said.

"Eh? But I didn't really do anything."

"You put your trust in us, and that's plenty! We've achieved this result because you chose to believe in us. Making the right choice is always really difficult," Petra replied as the squad went aloft.

"Hey, stop pampering him, Petra. What'd he do to deserve all the praise? The only thing he was good at was squawking and panicking. He did nothing except being the bait. Oh, well maybe his still being alive can be considered a good job, but even that isn't certain until the operation is wrapped up. Be sure to mark my words, brat. Until you're safely back behind the walls the expedition to the outer lands isn't over," Oluo said.

"Yes, I get it already. But where's Ryoga?" Johnny answered.

"Oh, I forgot about him. I hope he defeated the Crystal Titan," Petra commented.

"Don't worry about Ryoga. He defeated that titan before, so he can defeat him again. What I'm wondering is why he hasn't got back yet."

"He's probably taking a nap or taking off for the security of the walls, Gunther," Oluo replied with a wry glance.

"I doubt he'd do something like that," Johnny said in reply.

"Shut up, Johnny. I'm sure Ryoga's goldbricking in some way. Or for all we know he fought some more titans and pissed himself in fear."

"Look, Oluo, I seem to recall you wept and pissed your pants during your first expedition. Fine fearless soldier you were," Uld recalled.

"Gasp! Don't go telling him that! What if he loses all his respect for me?! What are you going to do about that?!" Oluo shouted.

"I only told him the truth. And just for the record, I didn't wet my pants," Uld said with a look over his shoulder.

"What?! I'm the one who holds the top achievements and kill record! The top, I'm telling ya! Doofus!" Oluo stammered.

"_Golly, it's true,"_ Johnny thought.

"The value of a soldier isn't measured solely with his kill record," Uld said.

"Wow! It probably sprayed right in the midair, too?!" Johnny said.

"Shut up, you idiot!" Oluo yelled.

"Uld!" Petra screamed.

"Guys, what are you, on a picnic or something?! It's the outer lands here, for crying out loud! By the way, Johnny, I didn't piss myself either!" Gunther demanded as he swung ahead.

"Oh," Gunther announced as he noticed a flare shoot up in the sky, prompting him to take out his flare gun and do the same. "It must be signal from Captain Levi. We're gonna join up with him! Save your bickering for when we're back!"

"But what about Ryoga?!" Johnny stammered.

"We'll worry about him later."

XXX

"_Has this guy gotten tougher, or am I simply imagining that?"_ Ryoga thought as a crystalized fist crashed into his body, knocking him back a few dozen yards into the forest.

"_I won't let you beat me again you insect!"_ Marcel thought as he ran after his prey.

"_It's bad enough you had to get in my way in trying to capture Johnny Sako, but now you think you're stronger than me. Think again, little man!"_

As soon as Ryoga had managed to slow down he winded up his ki hammer and took off for the titan straight for its midsection.

"_Not that again!"_ the titan speculated as he moved faster than Ryoga would have thought possible for someone so big, letting him pass by. Then he struck him with a backhand before he got too far away behind him!

"Yeow!" Ryoga screamed as he stumbled forward upon getting hit.

"_I can't keep taking hits like this. I'm going to have to rethink my strategy,"_ Ryoga thought.

Then Ryoga took to the air going higher and higher until he was out of reach of his titanic foe. Then he round up him ki hammer again.

"_You think that's going to work, little man? You tried that already!" _

Ryoga kept up his swing executing hundreds of revolutions per second. Then he let the hammer go.

"AAAAGH!" the surprised the titan screamed, crashing to the ground as the ki hammer struck his forehead, knocking him out.

"Whew!" Ryoga gasped as he landed near the fallen giant and got to work getting Marcel out of his titan.

XXX

"Erwin, why did you send Levi to refill? We hardly have time for that," Hange asked as they rode along through the forest.

"I did it because I remembered one of your theories," Erwin answered.

"Hmm?"

"You surmised that when the colossal class titan disappeared because no one saw the person who was inside it was because that insider equipped himself with the 3DM gear beforehand and using it, quickly escaped under the vapor cover," Erwin recounted.

"Yes," Hange confirmed.

"That female type had the ability to draw titans to her with a scream. We didn't know she could do that, and our plan failed. We need to adapt our way of thinking and concepts quickly if we want to outsmart the enemy. And if the enemy used vapor as a cover and escaped with a gear similar to ours, put on in advance, they could very well mingle in with the scouts."

"If the enemy has a way to preserve their stamina, it's possible they can transform into a titan again," Erwin explained as they rode through the forest."

XXX

In another part of the forest Gunther was leading his team of scouts through the giant sized trees when he noticed something.

"Hmm? Who's that?" As Gunther maneuvered closer to the stranger, the unknown scout whipped out a long blade that struck the surprised scout and sent him flying into the trunk of a large tree.

"Lieutenant Gunther?!" Johnny said as he swung over to him, shocked when he saw that much of the lieutenant's neck had been cut as his body dangled in the air.

"Keep moving, Johnny! Don't stop!" Oluo said as he took hold of him.

"Who did that?!" Petra demanded.

"Protect Johnny!" Uld ordered.

"The attacker is using the 3DM gear! What are we gonna do now?! Uld, where should we go?!" Oluo said.

"Forget about the horses! The top priority is to reach our commanders and comrades!" Uld answered.

"Is that the one who was inside that female type?! Or are there several of them?!" Oluo stated.

"The nerve that schmuck has! Come out! You have no honor, but I'm still going to give you a fair chance!" Petra called out as she chased after the killer.

"_The female type?! How can it be? Why? Didn't they catch her?!"_ Johnny thought.

Then there was a huge flash of light along with an explosion.

"So it's really her! She's coming! The female titan's closing in!" Uld announced upon the huge flash of light and explosion near where Gunther's killer had fled.

"I've had enough! This time I'm going to do it! I will fight her!" Johnny said as he put his hand to his mouth.

"No you won't! The four of us will deal with her! You go on ahead to our commanders' place as fast as you can, Johnny!" Uld ordered.

"I'm going to fight too!" Johnny stammered.

"It's best if you don't! Using your power is too risky!" Joachim said.

"What's that you little bastard?! You dare doubt our ability?!" Oluo said as he swung over near the anxious boy.

"Is it true what he said, Johnny? You really don't believe in us?" Petra said as she motioned towards him.

"I believe in my squad's victory! Good luck!" Johnny called out as he departed from them.

XXX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I hope you've enjoyed the changes I've made. I think I got it the way I want now. No more rewrites. I think.


	15. Mission Failed

Attack on Ranma

Chapter Fifteen

"_THOUGHTS"_

XXX

"Yaarh!" Uld screamed as he rose up with his sword against the female titan as he practically flew over her, evading large grasping fingers that only missed him a couple of meters.

The frustrated titaness took swings at the four competent scouts as they swarmed all over her, trying to nail the nape of her neck, but the titan was quicker and more skilled than the scouts would have thought as they had to back away from the titan's swift punches and kicks.

"Yeow!" Joachim called out as he barely avoided a powerful back kick by shooting upwards abruptly.

However, despite the impressive skills of the titan, Petra and Oluo each attached a line right under an eye. Then faster than the untrained eye could follow, Oluo and Petra flew into the titan by either side of her face, slicing through her eyes, blinding her, prompting the creature to put a hand on the nape of her neck as she backed into a tree.

"_We've robbed her of her sight, so she's gonna be in the dark for at least one minute. We'll slay her before the time is up. Forget about trying to capture alive! We'll kill her! You'll die a miserable death here and now! I'm going to pay that bitch back in full!"_ the four scouts thought as one as they closed in for the kill.

"_The wench can regenerate her eyes! But we're not gonna sit around and wait till she's done regenerating them!"_ Uld thought as he maneuvered towards the titan who now had both hands on the nape of her neck. "Signal!"

The other three survey scouts shot upwards, attaching themselves to a tree behind them as they all executed a 360 degree flip. Then they shot downwards, each slicing a chunk of the titan's shoulder blades and underarms.

"_We'll cleave her muscles so that she won't be able to keep her arms up! Then we'll sever the rotator muscles in her shoulders completely!" _Uld strategized as Oluo, Petra, and Joachim continued to cut and slash at the titaness.

"_Her arms have fallen down! On to the neck! If we sever the muscles holding the head up, we'll be able to get to the nape of her neck!"_ Uld thought.

"Keep going! Force her arms to drop!" Uld demanded as he and his comrades continued to cut away at their nemesis.

"_They're so strong that the fight looks one-sided. And they're fighting completely in synch even without saying one word to each other. It must be because of their absolute trust in each other. That's how they've managed to pull through the direst of situations up till now. That's why they're so strong even right after the death of Lieutenant Gunther."_

Johnny's thoughts continued as he watched the events from behind a large tree. _"I need to go on ahead. The scouts can handle things."_

Then Johnny flew off.

However, as Johnny looked back, he noticed something disturbing.

"Now it's time to go for the neck! Shear off the muscles that support its neck!" Uld announced as he came streaming to the seemingly blinded titan.

"Go for the weak spot!" Petra called out as she, Oluo, and Joachim followed their current leader.

However, one of the titaness's eyes had popped open, allowing her to see Uld and his blades coming for her neck. To the young man's surprise, the titaness's mouth reached for him and caught him. Then she chewed him up and spat him out.

The remaining scouts gasped as the two pieces of Uld's body came crashing to the ground in a bloody mess.

"But how?! It can't possibly see! It hasn't even been thirty seconds yet! Only one eye? It must have prioritized one eye to accelerate the healing! How is that even possible?!" Petra announced as she looked back and stopped paying attention to where she was going as she slowly descended to the ground while the one-eyed titan came stomping towards her.

"Petra! We need to regroup! Petra!" Joachim called out as the distracted scout kept looking over her shoulder at the oncoming titan as she ran into a tree allowing the titan's nimble foot to smash her into the large crack in a giant sized oak, embedding her body into it.

"Ungh!"

Upon seeing Petra's fate, Oluo charged the back of the killer titan with Joachim following close behind. After shooting a line into the nape of her neck, Oluo ricocheted into her, attempting to slice the nape of the creature's neck while Joachim attacked her nape from the other side, missing and only cutting off some of her hair.

"Blast it!"

"_What the… What happened?! Why didn't her nape get cut off?! Where did that crystal come from? It appeared out of nowhere!"_ Oluo thought to himself as his blades surprisingly scratched a hard surface. Then the titaness recoiled, shoving the crystallized nape of her neck in the direction of her attackers, knocking them back several yards.

"Look out!" Joachim warned as he used his 3DM gear to right himself in midair while his comrade went flying end over end in the other direction.

As Oluo kept flying right past her perplexed, the agile titan struck him with a reverse roundhouse kick, turning him into a bloody pulp.

"_It's up to me now,"_ Joachim thought to himself while barely evading a roundhouse kick from the prey turned hunter.

"_Whew! Just dodged that one! Uh, oh! Here it comes again!"_ Joachim didn't have much more time to think though as the female titan appeared right below him, leaping and attempting to strike him with a high flying, somersault kick.

"Yeow!" Joachim screamed as he surprised both himself and the titan with his own quickness. Even though the kick struck him, Joachim had managed to both roll with the blow and minimize the damage he took by barely getting hit. Despite that, the knockback he took was enough to send him so high into the sky that he went smashing through the leaves of one of the taller trees, getting stuck in the branches yet out of reach of the titan on the ground.

"_Time to move on. Now where is that Johnny kid?" _

Johnny had seen all of these events from a safe distance since he hadn't quite left. Then he cried out.

"Nooo! I will kill her!" Johnny announced as he bit into his hand igniting the change into his titanic form with a loud roar and a huge explosion.

"RUFF!" Johnny's titanic form called out.

"Johnny?!" Ranma gasped as she took off in the direction of the sound.

"Wait, Ranma! There are more stragglers to find!" Ranko called out as her sister took off for the loud noise.

"_That voice… Don't tell me…"_ Levi thought. Then he took off for the loud noise as well.

As the angry, mechanized titanic form of Johnny came stomping towards her in a choppy, robotic fashion, the titaness looked up and got in a stance.

XXX

"I had a feeling we would have to confront the enemy this time. But even my best plan wasn't enough to beat our adversary. We must challenge the enemy fully prepared to lose everything. We can't even hesitate in the face of taking big risks."

Erwin continued as they rode onward. "Without fighting, mankind will never have a chance to win."

Upon finishing his statement, Erwin looked into the horizon regarding the sun that lowered itself into the ground little by little.

XXX

While this was going on, Johnny's mechanical titan form attacked the female titan as he charged her, practically stomping the ground as he knocked her down, looming over her. Then he proceeded to repeatedly pummel her while straddling her as she looked up at him.

"_If only at that time, I had chosen to stay with them and fight together. No. Even before that… If only I had chosen to fight the first time we made contact with her. I would have won then and there. Maybe even succeeded in capturing her alive. That was my choice. And because of that choice everybody got killed. Because of me everybody is dead. But the one really at fault here is you!"_ Johnny thought as he fought and roared at the cause of all the death and destruction repeatedly. This caused both Levi and Mikasa to take off and make their way towards where the roar was.

"I'll rip you to shreds, tear you to pieces with my own hands, to smithereens and pulp, destroy you!"

The female titan raised her eyebrows upon hearing Johnny's titan form speak without his lips moving. Then she attacked. Before Johnny could do anything else, the titaness grabbed Johnny by one of his arms and grabbed one of his legs with her legs, flipping him over and getting out of the hold she was in. After executing this reversal, she kicked him upward from the ground knocking Johnny several kilometers, slamming him into a tree.

"RUFF!"

In seconds, Johnny was on his feet. Then the titaness turned around only to see a huge fist coming into her face, knocking her back and to the ground.

However, Johnny's rage still wasn't sated as he came at the titaness again with a haymaker that missed. Then Johnny threw a fast forward punch that missed again as the titaness ducked it.

"_There's seems to be a lot of lag time whenever I try to attack. Is it the fact that my titan form is immature?"_ Johnny thought as he seemed to maneuver like a slow moving robot. Then the nimble titaness crouched to the ground and legsweeped Johnny knocking him off his feet.

"Whoa!"

Upon getting back to his feet, Johnny threw forward punch after forward punch, some hitting most missing, until the titaness threw a punch at Johnny's jaw, cracking it, while ducking his attacks. In response, Johnny kneed his opponent in the stomach and struck her with a fierce uppercut knocking her over a dozen yards into the air over and away from him. As the titaness slammed into a giant sized oak, Johnny roared as if he had the victory.

When the female titan seemed to be stunned, Johnny charged with everything he had. However, the nimble titaness leaped out of the way, letting him smash himself into the tree.

Upon quickly recovering, Johnny violently shook his head and turned around, glaring at the titaness who calmly regarded him with a tilt of her head. Then Johnny leaped forward fire coming out of his back as he flew towards his opponent.

"_He's flying?! How is he doing that?!" _

Despite the look of surprise that appeared on her face, the female titan leaped out of the way, allowing Johnny to slam himself into a larger-than-life tree and stun himself.

Upon seeing that Johnny had practically knocked himself out, the titaness walked over to him and seemingly snapped his neck. As Johnny's head bobbed to the side, the female opened her mouth wider that would have seemed possible. After finding that Johnny's metallic skin was too tough, she made crystal appear on her hands and used her hardened finger tips to slice through, exposing Johnny's real body. This allowed her to take him into the maw of her mouth whole. Upon taking Johnny into her mouth and seemingly swallowing him whole much to the horror of Mikasa who had seen the events from a distance, the titaness then walked away as if nothing else had happened.

"Johnny, wait!" Mikasa called out.

As Levi made his way towards the sound of Johnny's growl via his maneuvering gear, he saw the dead bodies of his comrades from Gunther who was hanging by the grappling line of his maneuvering gear to the other three who were on the ground including Uld who had been bitten in half. Even Petra was on the ground near a giant sized tree banged up. However, Joachim was nowhere to be seen.

At this time, Mikasa chased after the fleeing titaness prompting the giantess to put a hand over the nape of her own neck. This allowed her pursuer to zip all around her, slicing her back, buttocks, and finally her Achilles tendons causing her to go crashing to the ground. As the creature got to her feet, Mikasa executing a forward somersault, ending the maneuver with a strike to the nape of her neck.

"What?! Why couldn't my blade cut through her?" Mikasa exclaimed after crystal appeared where she had struck.

Then Mikasa got herself and her equipment together. _"Johnny is alive! I know that for sure. No matter where she goes, I'll kill her, cut her open, gut her, and let you out of that vile place! So just wait, Johnny! Just a little longer and I'll be there!"_

However, as Mikasa took off in pursuit of her departing quarry, she felt a restraining hand on her shoulder.

"Take it easy. Fall back for now," Levi ordered.

"What the…"

"We'll follow her, keeping our distance for the moment. Looks like she's pretty exhausted. Her speed has dropped significantly. The whole nape area of Johnny's titan form was bitten out. Is he dead?"

"Johnny is alive, sir. The target seems to have intelligence, and her objective is to kidnap Johnny. If she wanted to kill him, she could have simply crushed him. Instead, the target put him in her mouth to contain him and is currently trying to escape with him," Mikasa answered as they kept up with the titan from a good distance via their 3DM gear.

"Then maybe she was trying to devour Johnny all along. In that case, he's in her stomach right now which pretty much means he's dead," Levi said.

"He's alive!" Mikasa stammered.

"I sure hope so," Levi said.

Then Mikasa looked at Levi darkly. "Had you performed your duty to protect Johnny properly, this wouldn't have happened."

"You're Johnny's childhood friend who was present at the trial, right? You got a thing for him?"

The slight look of red on her face confirmed what Levi had long suspected. "I see. We're gonna have to narrow down the list of our objectives to only one. And first of all, we need to give up on taking this female type titan down."

"We're gonna just ler her go after all the scouts she's killed?!"

"As long as she has that ability to harden her skin slaying her is impossible. Take my assessment on this. We'll bet everything on the possibility that Johnny is still alive and rescue him before she has a chance to get out of the forest. I'll cut her up while you draw her attention," Levi said.

Mikasa eventually got ahead of the slowing titan, making feint attacks. While the titaness was distracted, Levi swooped down and attacked, slicing the creature's eyes. Then Levi bounced all over the titan cutting here and there, even going so far as to cut off one of her arms and slice into her Achilles tendons causing her fall backwards, crashing into a tree.

"_He's fast, too fast! She has no time to defend by hardening her skin!"_ Mikasa thought as she watched Levi cut to the point that the arm that covered up the nape of her neck had to go limp.

"Time to go for neck! She's too tired! She can't even move anymore! I'll use the chance and finish her off!" Mikasa thought as she maneuvered towards the titaness.

"Don't!" Levi ordered as he saw what she was going to do, but Mikasa proceeded to attack anyway, prompting a giant sized fist to slam into her. Then Levi swooped down and struck the mouth of the titan forcing her mouth to drop Johnny who was encased in slime. Then Levi caught him.

"Hey! We're withdrawing, now!" Levi ordered.

"Johnny!" Mikasa exclaimed excitedly, her face brightening up.

"He seems to be fine, alive at least. Dirty too… Yuck! Forget about her, we're getting the heck outta here. Remember the goal of this plan. Or is satisfying your desires more important to you than rescuing him? He's your precious boyfriend, isn't he? Am I wrong?" Levi said as Mikasa looked upon Johnny's form longingly as they left the titan sitting against the large tree. Then Levi looked back and noticed that the titaness was crying.

As Levi and Mikasa made their way back with Johnny in tow, they saw Ranma tending to Petra's barely moving form.

"Ranma?! What the heck are you doing?!" Levi snapped at her.

"Petra's still alive but barely." To the surprise of the captain, Petra got to her feet, her injuries vanishing and her broken bones mending.

"Did you give me the same kind of lentil Ryoga gave Joachim some time ago?"

"That's right, Petra." Then Ranma looked up, her twenty-twenty vision noticing something.

"What is it, Ranma?"

"There's another scout that's still alive." Ranma shot up into the air until she arrived where Joachim was unconscious, hanging over a high tree branch.

"What the…" Levi gasped.

"He's all right. He's just knocked out. Everybody else is dead though. I can't sense their life forces," Ranma announced as she touched down in front of them with Joachim in her arms.

"If you're done playing nursemaid, we need to get out of here. This mission is over," Levi demanded, prompting the others to follow his swift departing form.

XXX

Sometime later, Johnny woke up in a carriage on its way back to the walls. "Huh?"

"Oh, finally came to?" another injured scout with a bandage on his head laying to the right of him said.

"Johnny! Don't try to get up yet. You should just rest for now."

"Mikasa? What about the female type?" Johnny asked as Mikasa rode on a horse beside the horse drawn carriage on which he lied down.

"She got away."

"Why? Everybody… What's…? What about the plan?" the boy stammered.

"It failed. You need to rest. "

"Was it you who retrieved me?" Johnny said.

"Yes."

"How's Ranma and Ranko?"

"They're all right."

"And Ryoga?"

"Nobody knows where he is, but I'm sure he's all right."

As Ranko rode on her horse with the retinue none the worse for wear. A large man came charging towards her on his own horse.

"Ranko!" Franz called out with a corpse laid on his draft horse in front of him.

"Franz? Hi, how ya doing? Tough day, wasn't it?" the dreary girl answered

"I vaguely remember you giving me something that helped me to recover from my injuries. Do you have any more of those things? Hannah took a hard hit, so she could use one of those," the young man asked, shoving the dead body of his lover towards Ranko.

After Ranko regarded the body of the dead girl, she shook her head.

"What's the matter?"

"There's nothing I can do for her, Franz. She's dead."

"She can't be dead! I don't believe it! You gotta do something! I cut my way through over a dozen titans to get Hannah back here. You have to do something!" the larger than life warrior exclaimed as his eyes began to moisten.

"Calm yourself down, Franz," Mousse said from behind him with a consoling hand on his broad shoulder.

"No! No! No!" the man sobbed until he cried out loud, raising his fist to the skies.

"Go ahead and mourn, but don't forget how much mankind needs strong warriors like you," Mousse commented.

"I guess you've realized you can't save everybody," Levi said as he motioned his horse towards Ranko's.

"Yeah, I suppose so. I tried to rescue as many stragglers as possible, but there were times when I wasn't able to retrieve a dying scout from the mouths of these titans."

"Now you realize the severity of the situation."

"We're going back!" the voice of a tall, slender scout with long hair called out.

"No. Keep moving," a high ranking scout ordered, stopping two scouts from turning their horses back.

"Johan was not only our friend; we grew up together. We're from the same town after all," the shorter of the two scouts said.

"That's right! We need to get his body back so he can be buried properly!" the first scout said.

"If he's dead, there's nothing we can do about him. Now keep moving!"

"Where is this guy? I'll go and get him," Ranko answered, arising from her horse.

"No. Stay on your horse and keep moving. The walls will come into view any time now," Levi ordered.

However, when nobody was watching, the two scouts sneaked off towards the forest.

"Should we be doing this, Herman?" the shorter haired scout said.

"Don't worry about it, Karl. Nobody saw us leave and Johan isn't that far away from here," the longer haired scout said.

However, as they rode their horses deeper into the forest a couple of fifty-foot titans appeared 40 yards in front of them, one of them being skinny while the other was broad shouldered and hefty. Each of them came from behind a hundred foot high oak tree and regarded the two scouts with a hungry look in their eyes, causing said scouts to freeze in fear for a moment. Then the titans moved in.

"Retreat!" the longer haired scout yelled, prompting the other one to comply.

As the two scouts' horses sped away out of the forest the titans chased after them.

"They're gaining!"

"Just keep moving! We can lose them!" the taller one said.

At that moment, Sasha and Mina were on their horses at the end of the scout troop when Mina noticed Sasha freeze up with her eyes staring off into space.

"What's the matter?"

"Titans!"

Mina felt the distant thumps getting closer. Then the two AWOL scouts came into view with the titans right behind them.

"Oh, great! Come on, Sasha. We got some work to do," Mina said, turning towards her partner.

"Um."

"Sasha!"

"All right, already!"

"Just have my back as I go flying towards those titans! You know how to shoot off your horse into the air, don't you?"

"Yeah, but I'm not as good at it as you," Sasha responded lazily.

"Just follow me!"

As the fleeing scouts passed them by, Mina shot off of her horse in direction of the heavier titan, evading every attempt to take hold of her. Then she lighted off the grasping hand and flew into the sky, shooting a grappling hook into the creature's left shoulder. And before the titan could do anything else, Mina ricocheted into the direction of nape of his neck.

"Got it!" Sasha shouted as she came from the titan's right, getting to the nape of its neck just before Mina and slicing it off.

"What the… I almost hit you!" Mina exclaimed as she put on the brakes before the giant went crashing to the ground.

"What's your problem?! It's down, isn't it?! My, you're uptight!" Sasha called out as the two of them touched down.

"Good work, you guys!" Ranma shouted as she flew past them towards the skinny titan who held its arms to itself as if it were cold.

As the slender titan, regarded Ranma, the pigtailed girl vanished right before its surprised eyes. Then she appeared right behind it, slicing off its nape.

"Aaaaaagh!" the titan screamed as it went crashing to the ground.

"How did these two track us down?" Ranma asked as she landed near the killed titan.

"That's a good question. What happened, you two?!" Levi barked at the AWOL scouts as he prompted his horse towards them.

"Well, I…"

At that point, Levi bitch slapped the both of them in the face, knocking the scouts off their horses and onto the ground.

"Don't you ever do something like that again! You got that?!"

"Yeah, all right.

XXX

Sometime later, the two hundred foot wall came into view as the draw bridge opened, allowing the scouts to ride in.

"The scouting legion is back! Their number dwindled by quite a few compared to this morning's!" a village called out.

"Come on! Let me through! I can't see anything like this!" An eight year old, little girl complained as she tried to jump over the throng of adults watching the scouts ride in.

"Erie! Let's climb up!" a boy called out with access to a ladder, leaning up against the outside wall of a nearby house.

"Didn't they leave? I mean, they were so pumped up and shouting early in the morning. And look, these schleps are back by noon!" someone in the crowd shouted out.

"Why did they even bother to go outside at all?!"

"Judging by their gloomy mugs, it was all in vain again!"

"Well, they've succeeded in wasting our taxes on their stupid stunts outside, if nothing else!"

Then Johnny got up angrily despite his exhaustion.

"Johnny," Mikasa said with concern. Then she and Johnny noticed the two kids standing on a ladder admiring the parade of scouts passing by.

"Ah, so cool! This is the famous scouting legion! They keep fighting even after taking so much damage!" the boy announced.

Then Johnny thought back to when Mikasa, Eren/Ryoga and he were kids watching the parade of scouts march through the town on return several years ago.

"Captain Rivaille!" a middle aged, smiling man with medium length greying hair called out as he ran to him.

"Yes, what is it?"

"I'm Petra's father! I thought I'd stop and talk to you a little before going to find my daughter. Petra sent me this letter, you see… She wrote that she got the great honor to be in your squad, Captain, and that she was going to give it her all to live up to your expectations. Well, you know… She was outright boasting, not understanding how worried that news could make a parent."

Petra's father continued. "Heh, heh. Anyway, as her father, I was thinking it was probably too early for me to insist she get married, you know… She's still too young and has her whole life ahead of her, so…"

"Daddyyyyy?! What are you talking about?!" Petra said, her face getting red as she prompted her horse forward.

"Petra! I wasn't sure whether or not you'd made it back. I was just talking to the captain, Heh, heh." At that point, her father kept up with his daughter asking how everything had gone, the look on her face answering his many questions without a word.

As the scouts made their way through town, Franz let his large draft horse move him forward, morosely thinking of the day's events until the scout that had hid under the horse carriage and gotten away nudged his horse towards him.

"You're that guy who took out those titans, aren't you?" the brown haired scout said as he regarded Franz.

"Who are you?" the large man, almost recognizing him.

"I'm the guy who was under the carriage while you fought those titans. That was great!"

"You mean you hid under a carriage while my dear Hannah fought for her life and died?! Why didn't you help her?!"

"There was nothing I could do! I didn't have 3DM equipment and there were titans all around us. They practically appeared out of nowhere!"

"You should have done more than you did! She might have lived if not for your cowardice!" Franz yelled getting undue attention from the other scouts and the populace as he violently took hold of the other scout's shoulder, causing him more than a little bit of pain.

"Ungh."

"Take it easy, Franz. You're much stronger than this guy."

"Ryoga! I heard you were lost," Franz said, letting the grateful scout go as he turned towards Ryoga who was on a horse on the other side of him.

"I was never lost! Anyway, I recaptured the Crystal Titan and placed him back in the custody of the military police who allowed him escape in the first place. I heard you did pretty well against the titans," Ryoga said as the previous scout got away from Franz as quickly as possible.

"I did all right, but Hannah died. And Ranko couldn't bring her back," Franz sobbed.

"Listen, Franz, these things happen. And Ranko was only able to do so much. Keep training hard and we'll win this war yet."

"Yes, but at what cost? It would have been better if I had died and Hannah was still here. Why did Ranko have to save me only for Hannah to die?!"

While the scouts made their way further into town, reporters showed up getting in the commander's face. "Colonel Erwin! Have you managed to accomplish some grandiose goal to make up for the number of casualties the legion has suffered?!" someone in the crowd called out as Erwin made his way forward.

"We'd like you to answer a few questions!"

"Do you have regrets about sacrificing your soldiers?!"

Colonel Erwin said nothing as he simply stared forward, moving his horse along.

XXX

The blow dealt to the recent expedition, both in finances and in human life, was so costly that the supporters of the scouting legion turned away from them. Thus the authorities held Erwin responsible and summoned him to the capital while Johnny was to be handed over to them.

XXX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I hope you all have enjoyed reading this. If you don't feel like giving a review, show me your appreciation by favoring the fanfic and putting it on alert status.


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